Star Wars: The Shift
by Eastonia
Summary: Shift!verse AU. The 1st in a Saga. The Force intervenes before anything actually happens. Anakin is born 5 years before he ought to and grows up in the Temple after being retrieved from Bandomeer. A mix-up leads to someone else being proclaimed the Chosen One and Sidious's focus shifts to him. Despite all of this, the Force is still at work. What has to happen, will happen...
1. Prologue and Chapter 1: Arrival on Naboo

**AN:** Just a note, no I do not own Star Wars, that's Disney and George Lucas. Plus, go easy on me, everything I know about Star Wars comes from here, FFnet. I hope that this AU will still be able to satisfy the more purist readers of the site. I did do some research as I was writing this though! :D

Cheers,

Eastonia

* * *

42 years before what they call the battle of Yavin, something went tragically wrong. Or perhaps horribly right.

42 years before what they call the battle of Yavin, Shmi Skywalker was working under Gardulla the Hutt, even though it was within the last stages of her pregnancy. She was sent out into the desert a month before the birth of her child, and was never seen again. The overseers would be sent out after Gardulla's wayward slave, but all they would find was a broken transmitter. Shmi's bloodless transmitter, which meant she never removed it. Two other families would find themselves in the same predicament as her.

48 years before the battle of Yavin, 10 years and 6 months old Initiate Obi-Wan Kenobi would be awoken in the middle of the night in a Force trance. Night after night for six months he would awake in this trance, without the knowledge of the council, and work on a device that would transmit nano-probes that 'dampened' or 'enhanced' the effect of midi-chlorians into an organic body. At the end of the sixth month, just before he turned 11, the device (in the form of a ring) would be slipped on his finger and forgotten about.

47 years before the battle of Yavin, Shmi Skywalker would awaken on Bandomeer, in the care of the Jedi. On the fourth month of that year her son, Anakin Skywalker would be born. A few months after that, she would press her son into the arms of the newly minted Padawan Kenobi, and let him go. Unknowingly to the Jedi, the nano-probes in his ring would seek out the babe's midi-chlorians and suppress them.

Back on Coruscant, he would look over the new crèche-mates of the young Skywalker, the ones awaiting the final midi-chlorian tests. Brushing his ring against a babe with brown eyes and a streak of gold hair in the midst of his brown locks, the nano-probes got to work again, this time enhancing the child's count to mimic another's true results. The ring then deactivated and disintegrated. The nano-probes would remain a part of these two younglings for decades to come.

And so it became known that Ferus Olin was the Chosen One. And so Darth Sidious secretly set his plans into motion.

As the two boys grew Anakin would challenge Ferus's by the book behaviour. He would choose to use the Code as a guideline, not a way of life. Obi-Wan would be dragged into his many, many pranks.

Somehow, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker, through the many antics the younger of the two cooked up, formed a bond.

When Anakin started pushing 13, Obi-Wan started pushing for his knighthood, unwilling to let Anakin join the Jedi Service Corps like he was sentenced to 13 years ago. The 24 year old would fail, and ask Qui Gon to take him on as an unofficial Padawan. That was not to be.

Qui Gon felt he should be mentoring the Chosen One.

At this time, Ferus Olin would be preparing to leave the tutelage of his first Jedi master to serve under Master Jinn when Obi-Wan rose to knighthood.

At this time Obi-Wan would swear to Anakin that he would find some way of taking him on as his apprentice.

At this time Anakin would become part of the Jedi Corps, his skill at mechanics not going unnoticed.

But the wheels of destiny can't be stopped. What was meant to happen, will happen…

A year after this, he would be summoned together with Qui Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi to go as their technical support on their mission to Naboo.

This is where the story begins…

* * *

**Star Wars: The Shift**

* * *

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…

Turmoil has engulfed the Galactic Republic. The taxation of trade routes to outlying star systems is in dispute.

Hoping to resolve the matter with a blockade of deadly battleships, the greedy Trade Federation has stopped all shipping to the small planet of Naboo.

While the congress of the Republic endlessly debates this alarming chain of events, the Supreme Chancellor has secretly dispatched two Jedi Knights, the guardians of peace and justice in the galaxy, to settle the conflict...

* * *

Chapter 1: Arrival on Naboo

The Consular-class cruiser zipped through the stillness of space and Anakin Skywalker shivered under his blanket.

"It's s-s-soo co-o-old."

Obi-Wan grinned and sat down next to the 4 feet tall 14 year old, nudging him a little with his elbow,

"Well, space is cold. You get used to it."

"Yes, Knights and Padawans get used to it. Servicemen? Mechanics? I would love to stay planetside. On Coruscant. Indefinitely… You know, where it's warm?"

"The cockpit is warmer."

"Master Jinn just went in didn't he?"

"Yup."

"So we'll be making contact soon then?"

"Actually, we just did."

Qui Gon smiled at his apprentice and the mechanic as he sat next to them.

"We should be landing shortly… and Anakin?"

"Yes Master Jinn?"

"Please try to not get in trouble."

"Impossible master! He is a disaster magnet."

"Look who's talking run-into-danger-nearly-every-mission."

"Great, you just jinxed it. Force! I should not have told you of any of my…"

"But you did."

"Alright you two, stop bantering. Game face on padawan. Anakin? One, don't wander off and two? Please, please, please remember that you are a mechanic. You don't have a lightsaber. If worse comes to worst, you'll not be able to defend yourself."

"Don't worry master…"

"..Jinxed it again Ani. Jinxed it again."

"Yeah, yeah whatever, you go and be all ambassador-ry, I'll look over the ship and do some tune ups."

Obi-Wan rolled his eyes and mentally slid the 'Jedi-mask' – as coined by Anakin – on as the ramp of their ship lowered. At a nod from his master, the two Jedi slipped their hoods up. White droids greeted them as Anakin slipped off to perform the promised tune up on their cruiser.

They came to a door and were greeted by a silver protocol droid. The door slid shut and Anakin could see them no more.

The Force started to scream at him. Anakin woozily wobbled closer to the side of the cruiser and breathed.

_*GET OUT OF HERE!*_

Releasing his breath he unknowingly echoed Obi-Wan.

"I have a bad feeling about this…"

* * *

_Coruscant._

Felis Olin went through his normal everyday routine for the morning. Then after getting clearance from the Council he left the temple and breathed a sigh of relief.

Outside the temple, he could pretend he was free.

Free of the pressures of being the Chosen One of the Jedi. Free of the expectations of the council. Free of the profile of being the perfect, Code-adhering Padawan.

And Senator Palpatine certainly helped him to pretend even further.

He had met the senator in the early days of his apprenticeship, around 4 years ago. The man had been friendly, considerate and grandfather-like in his demeanour towards Ferus. It was refreshing. He didn't seem to expect anything from him and he was a great listener. Ferus had ranted to him about many, many things. Chief-est of which were the unrealistic expectations of the Council and Anakin's behaviour.

It didn't come as a surprise that the boy wasn't chosen by anyone to be made a Padawan. Apart from his disregard of the code and pranks, his general conduct was appalling by Jedi standards. It was a wonder that Master Yoda had taken a shine to him and chosen to keep him as one of the Jedi engineers on Coruscant.

Anakin had no idea how lucky he was.

The turbolift opened and he stepped out into the quarters of the Senator of Naboo. The lights were dim, and he was robed – almost as if he had just come out from a holomeeting.

Palpatine smiled at Ferus and flicked on his holoboard as he sat down.

"Here for a rematch my boy?"

Ferus grinned at the senator.

"Count on it sir."

* * *

_Above Nabooan Atmosphere._

The Force had practically pulled him towards a Federation mechanic and after performing a mind-trick that Obi-Wan had shown him and redressing in his clothes. Anakin snuck onboard a craft with several droids. Only then did the Force stop squealing at him like an injured animal.

The Jedi Service Corps mechanic's uniform was stuffed into his pack, along with a small blaster and several other odds and ends he had accumulated through the years. Sounds of battle reverberated through the craft and he longed to go and join the Master-Padawan pair in their fight, but every time he thought to himself that he would go, two things would happen. The first of which was that the Force would scream at him again. While useful, because he did (for some reason) end up in life or death situations during his initiation, it was also inherently annoying. The other thing was that the sight of the other mechanics aboard the ship would remind him about his own flimsy cover and force him to release his frustrations to the Force.

He sought the presences of the other Jedi and breathed a sigh of relief. They had split up but they were safe for the time being. The craft he was on took off and flew towards the planet.

"Well Obi-Wan,"

He muttered underneath his breath

"Looks like I'm going to be back planetside pretty soon."

* * *

_Coruscant._

"And that is check and mate."

"Blast!"

"Sorry young one. Maybe next time."

Ferus grinned at Palpatine, who smiled kindly back at him. A flashing light disturbed them and Palpatine sighed.

"I'm afraid that has to be it for today Padawan Olin,"

He said as he gestured to the blinking

"Duty calls. I'm sure you know the feeling."

"Oh I know it all too well. Tomorrow then sir?"

"I'll always have time for you Mr. Chosen One."

Ferus grinned reading it as jest.

"Please sir; otherwise I'll call you Mr. Senator of Naboo. May the Force be with you."

"And with you Ferus."

As the Padawan left, Sidious smiled. Yes, although there were some setbacks, the plan was coming along very nicely.

Ferus Olin – the Chosen One of the Jedi, as all the reports said, the one that possessed the mightiest Force presence he had ever encountered – would be his apprentice in time.

Switching the comlink on, he bowed,

"Your Majesty…"

* * *

_The Swamps of Naboo_

Blaster fire rang throughout the swamps as Anakin changed back into his uniform and withdrew his blaster. He raced towards the flashes of green that he was sure was Qui Gon's 'saber and saw Obi-Wan running like a maniac towards them.

Qui Gon deflected the bolts expertly, but some twist of fate wouldn't allow any of the deflected bolts to reach the STAPs. Anakin breathed and let the Force guide his actions as he pulled the trigger.

The STAPs blew up.

Obi-Wan panted, leaning his hands against his thighs.

"Sorry, Master, the water fried my weapon."

Qui Gon rolled his eyes, gesturing for the 'saber. Upon inspecting it he said

"You forgot to turn your power off again, didn't you?"

Obi-Wan nodded sheepishly. Qui Gon shook his head lightly as he handed the weapon back,

"It won't take long to recharge, but this is a lesson I hope you've learned, my young Padawan." He admonished.

"Thanks for the save anyway Master."

"It wasn't me. I couldn't deflect the bolts back. Must be old age."

"Don't even joke that way Master. If it was not you, then who…"

Anakin popped up from behind them.

"Hi Master! Hi Obi-Wan!"

"You?"

Anakin nodded cheerfully. Then a look of shock crossed his face as Obi-Wan and Qui Gon suddenly hugged him.

"You're alive!" Obi-Wan exclaimed.

"Yes. Yes I am. Why would that be…?"

"Our ship was destroyed. It's now space dust along with the rest of our crew." Qui Gon said flatly.

"Oh."

Obi-Wan and Anakin finally noticed the strange amphibious creature at his Master's side.

"What's this?"

Obi-Wan questioned.

"A local."

Qui Gon replied in the same flat tone.

Anakin looked about the swamp.

"Ummm… sorry to break up this party, but more droids could show up at any moment now…"

"Right. Okay, let's start running."

The three Jedi took off and stopped as Qui Gon did to look at the local.

"Mure? Mure did you spake?!"

It said.

They looked at each other, wondering just exactly how slow this creature was before continuing their run, the thing struggling to keep up with them. Again it stopped and the three looked at each other exasperated before looking back at the amphibious being.

"Ex-squeeze me, but da moto grande safe place would be Otoh Gunga. Tis where I grew up... Tis safe city."

"A city! Why didn't you just tell us that in the first place!"

Qui Gon cried

"Iss embarrissing, boot... My afrai my've bean banished. My forgoten der Bosses would do terrible tings to my. Terrible tings if my goen back dare."

Anakin's eyes widened as the sound of something pulsating grew closer. Stepping around Obi-Wan's Master he grabbed a hold of the alien's shirt and brought the gangly being down to his eye level.

"You hear that?"

The local nodded. Satisfied that he had the amphibians full attention he continued.

"That's the sound of a thousand terrible things heading this way..."

Obi-Wan picked up his line of thought and finished his sentence

"When they find us, they will crush us, grind us into little pieces, then blast us into oblivion!"

The local blinked.

"Oh! Yousa point is well seen. Dis way! Hurry!"

It picked out a seemingly random route and started running. The three Jedi followed after. Qui Gon looked at the two and said

"What was that?"

Obi-Wan and Anakin grinned at each other as they ran. Finally Anakin told the Jedi Master

"I like to call that: aggressive negotiations."

* * *

**AN: **Well? Tell me what you think :D


	2. Chapter 2: To Save a Queen

**AN:** Since I am inspired, and have The Phantom Menace as a ready reference guide, I'm going to aim to finish this quickly. I see this as being at least 50,000 words long. So brace yourselves. To anyone from the Bat! or Avatar!verse that has followed me here, I think writing this fic is going to help me get back in the swing. Anyways! Chapter 2!.

Cheers,

Eastonia

* * *

Chapter 2: To Save a Queen

_The Swamps of Naboo._

The four escapees ran out into a clearing with a murky lake. Along the run Qui Gon and Obi-Wan filled Anakin in of everything they learnt during the failed negotiations, including the entirety of the invasion force. Jar Jar Binks – as Obi-Wan and Anakin learnt on the run there, along with the fact that it was in fact a part of the Gungan race and, a he – paused yet again to pant. The Jedi took several deep breaths and looked around.

"Much farther?"

Asked Qui Gon raising an eyebrow at the Gungan and he turned around to face the three Jedi and pointed at the lake.

"Wesa goen underwater, okeyday?"

Anakin backed up.

"Nooo… Not 'okeyday'. Soooo not 'okeyday'…"

Obi-Wan grinned as he pulled out his breath mask from his utility belt.

"Right. Forgot about your aversion to water."

"It's not an aversion. I just don't like the feeling of being completely submerged for more than a minute at a time."

"And yet you worship the liquid."

"Have you ever read of a planet called Tatooine?"

"Nooo… Why would you have anyway?"

"It's in the Archives, and I felt lead to research about it… Almost as if something is there, waiting for me…"

"What's this got to do with your worship of water?"

"Everything. Tatooine is a desert planet. Every time I start to disregard water, I think of how they must feel and snap, I start being grateful for what we've got again."

"I see…"

"Anakin, Obi-Wan, stop bantering and come on!"

"Sorry Master."

Chorused the two boys. Qui Gon turned to the dirty blond and raised an eyebrow.

"I see you don't have a breath mask in that junk pack of yours."

Anakin shrugged sheepishly and set his pack down to start digging through it, random things came flying out as he rummaged, looking for a breath mask.

"Not it. Nope. No. No. Nope. Na-uh. Um…"

He held out a mangled thing and hit the side of one of the canisters that was supposed to hold the oxygen. It clanked emptily and Qui Gon visibly slumped.

"I think I'm out of gas…"

"I do not even want to know how to got that… Wait… Obi-Wan isn't that your old…"

"ANYWAYS!"

Obi-Wan loudly said hastily and turned to the Gungan,

"You said something about going underwater?"

"Yesa. Yousa reedi nao?"

Qui Gon turned back to Anakin.

"Alright, we're short one breath mask. Anakin, here."

He pressed his map unit into Anakin's hand.

"Keep your blaster handy, and meet up with us at Theed. We'll try and get the co-operation of the Gungans to repel the invasion."

He turned towards Jar Jar and nodded. The Gungan spoke again

"My warning yous. Gungans no liken outlaunders. Don't expict a wern welcome."

Obi-Wan smirked a little at the amphibians statement.

"Don't worry, this has not been our day for warm welcomes."

Jar Jar nodded at them and shot up into the air in a double somersault, twisting as he entered the water. Obi-Wan grinned at Anakin.

"Well, see you in Theed."

"Count on it."

Qui Gon observed their exchange and started wading in after Jar Jar, breath mask at the ready. He stopped and turned.

"Be careful young Skywalker. You're on your own now. Don't lose that blaster – in fact – try and pick up another one or two. You'll be headed behind enemy lines, you need all the firepower you can get."

"Yes Master."

Anakin nodded and turned to head towards Naboo's Planetary Capital,

"And Anakin?"

Anakin inclined his head back towards the lake as the Master-Padawan pair submerged.

"May the Force be with you."

"And with you Master, Obi-Wan."

Breaking back out into a sprint he climbed the nearest tree and started travelling across the forest branch by branch. Avoiding the droids he smirked to himself while pausing to check the route to Theed.

"Why does no one ever look up?"

A beep alerted him of the calculated route. Looking at it he nearly threw his hands up and shouted in exasperation, only the droids below him reminding him of the need for quiet.

"_The other_ _side of the planet?!_"

* * *

_Coruscant._

"Ferus!"

Ferus Olin turned around, his eyes brightening as a certain red-headed girl ran up to him as he entered the Temple.

"Darra! I thought you were still off world."

"Nope, got back very early this morning, Master Antana and I finished the mission earlier than expected. Just came from Senator Palpatine's?"

"I'll never figure out how you do that."

"Do what?"

"Figure out when I went to Palpatine's."

"That's easy."

"So…?"

"You know, we always have this conversation after you return from the good Senator, and what is my reply every time?"

"A female has got to keep some mystery about her."

"Exactly. Which means…"

Darra tapped her nose mischievously, rust coloured eyes twinkling at the brown eyed boy.

"You're never gonna tell are you?"

"Took you long enough to figure that one out Ferus."

They grinned at each other on the steps of the Temple. Ferus relished the last moments of his 'freedom' with the only person that kept him sane through the strains of Temple life – his visits to Palpatine always increased when she was on a mission - before stepping up the last of the steps and feeling the burdens of being the Chosen One settle about his shoulders yet again.

* * *

_The Swamps of Naboo – Droid Base Camp._

Anakin snuck up behind one of the two droids guarding the transports. Palming a short-range EMP emitter he had found during his rummage for a working breath mask, he rolled it out before them.

"What's that?"

"I dunno. Looks like some kind of…"

The guard droids shorted out temporarily and Anakin recalled another of Obi-Wan's impromptu Force lessons to put on a sudden burst of speed, lunging past the temporarily comatose droids into the hangar bay as they started to reboot.

"Whoa. What a trip."

"That was awesome! My drives were firing all at once – it made me process…"

"Like you could compute anything?"

"EXACTLY! We have to show it to the others. Mass produce it probably."

Anakin paused, eyes widening as he thought to himself.

[Did I just get the droids addicted to potentially-harmful-for-them EMP emissions?]

He shook his head and continued on his quest to find a craft. Finding a freshly maintained single-manned craft he slipped in and hotwired it. To his joy he found a cloaking device onboard that would allow him to sneak out without the Federation noticing… hopefully not until it was too late.

Settling himself down at the pilot's seat he checked the controls and huffed worriedly…

"I hope I haven't forgotten any of the piloting lessons…"

The craft rose into the sky of Naboo and zoomed off towards Theed. With the way Anakin was pushing the engines, he would reach there, before the Federation did, in about 2 hours…

Hopefully the craft would not burn-out before then.

* * *

_In Otoh Gunga._

While Anakin was racing like a maniac over the skies of Naboo, Obi-Wan was doing all he could to not tear his Padawan braid out in frustration. Negotiations for the second time that day, were again, failing. At least Master Jinn had secured a craft for their use…

Even if Jar Jar was their Navigator.

* * *

_Palace of Theed._

Anakin landed his nearly burnt out craft on a bridge behind what seemed to be the Palace of Theed. The 4 feet tall 14 year old – who, by the way was looking forward to his growth spurt – jumped out and raced inside the Palace.

Captain Panaka was alerted to the presence of a boy seeking an audience with the Queen. Something prompted him to let the boy through. The scruffy dirty blonde haired, blue eyed child ran up to the throne and bowed.

"Milady."

The Queen's eyes widened.

"Who are you?"

"My name's Anakin Skywalker, I'm a Jedi Corps Serviceman. I bring troubling news."

"What? Have the negotiations failed?"

"Master Qui Gon Jinn and Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi were the ambassadors to the Trade Federation, unfortunately, negotiations never took place. Your Majesty, there is an invasion force headed this way. A huge droid army… Your troops will be vastly outnumbered – you must leave Theed."

"My place is with my people."

"Hopefully Master Jinn and Padawan Kenobi can bring reinforcements. But Your Majesty, we must assume the worst. With all due respect milady, you have to go into hiding."

"No Seviceman Skywalker, my place is with my people."

Panaka interrupted the discussion,

"Perhaps milady we should allow them to capture you. If we resist as little as possible, we may be able to preserve as many lives as possible... Serviceman?"

Anakin looked slightly surprised at the sudden attention. As a member of the Jedi Corps, he was not exposed to the same situations as Obi-Wan and Qui Gon. Still, there were some lessons of conduct with military figures that had stayed with him. Squaring his shoulders he nodded at the (from what he could tell from the indicators) captain.

"Yes sir?"

"Do you think the Master Jedi and his Padawan will reach here on time?"

Anakin calmed himself and reached out with his mind as he let the Force flow through his being. He reached out to the strand connecting his being to Obi-Wan and… yanked.

[Ow! Anakin, watch it! A little busy running from huge fish here!]

[Sorry... How long till you get here with reinforcements?]

[About those reinforcements...]

[Did negotiations fail again?]

[Master Jinn is not very good at diplomacy. I thought we established that a couple of years back.]

[Never mind then, how soon till you arrive?]

[An hour and a half.]

[Hurry… please?]

[Oh. You're minding your manners. It must be urgent.]

[Oh ha ha. Just be quick.]

Anakin rose from the semi-meditative state he was in and looked at the captain.

"One and a half hours."

The darkly hued man's expression turned grim as he turned to the queen.

"Your Majesty, we should prepare."

Queen Amidala rose from her throne.

"Start your preparations. Now leave me. I wish to be alone..."

Her court rose and left, and Anakin made to join them when

"Jedi Seviceman, please stay."

Anakin started and joined the young Queen where she stood, looking out the window, the first of the droids Air Force visible on the horizon.

"Tell me young Jedi, will my planet survive this?"

Suddenly she laughed,

"Look at me, I'm so worried I'm asking a child about my people's future."

"Well, you're 'just a child' yourself, Your Majesty. In fact I bet that I'm older than you."

"Really?"

"Really."

Anakin smirked to himself, certain of victory because unbeknownst to the young Queen, he had already gone through her profile during their trip from Coruscant to Naboo. He had, in fact coerced it from his ever reliable source of information: Obi-Wan. Inwardly he cheered as the queen cracked a smile at him.

"Alright then."

She said as she turned to face him completely.

"I'm 14. And 4 months old – if that makes any difference."

He smirked openly at her before pulling out his mechanics identification, knowing that she would never believe him without evidence.

"I'm 14. And 8 months – and it did make a difference."

The royal mask of Naboo slid off for a second as Queen Amidala openly gaped at him. He shrugged

"Such is the lives of those sworn to duty. By the way Your Majesty, I think your Handmaidens are calling for your attention."

The queen nodded at him, regal composure back in place and swept towards the door, she paused at its threshold

"If Captain Panaka's plan is to succeed, you should disguise yourself."

"I've got a Federation mechanic's uniform on me. That'll do."

"No. If you are to regroup with your fellow Jedi, you must look the part of a Naboo native – part of my entourage. Come – you'll have to prepare too."

* * *

_Coruscant._

"Darra Thel-Tanis! Get back here!"

"Sorry Ferus! You seriously need to relax."

"I need that book!"

"And you can have it, after you relax. Ferus, when was the last time you did nothing?"

"Ummm…"

"Exactly. Now be a good boy and just look around you."

"The Room of a Thousand Fountains?"

"Yup, when was the last time you came here just to take in the beauty of it all…"

"Eleven years ago… I think."

"You think?"

"That was before the Council burst my bubble of being a normal initiate."

"Careful Ferus, that resentment could turn to hate, which could lead to the dark side and the Sith."

"The Sith are a fairy tale. Told to keep crèche members in their beds at night."

"I don't know Ferus. I think we should be wary."

Ferus turned away from her and gazed into the fountain.

"Darra, what do you think I would have been like if I wasn't… you know…"

"I think you'd be the same. Nothing could change who you truly are deep inside. Your core personality – you – will remain constant."

The brown eyed boy looked at her, a hand shyly reaching for hers as he smiled.

"Thanks."

* * *

_Theed – Naboo._

Anakin walked up to one of the handmaidens. Pulling her away from the Queen he spoke in low tones to her while turning 360 degrees in his Nabooan robes.

"Satisfied Your Majesty?"

Her eyes widened.

"How did you know…"

"You can't hide Force presences without training…I'm assuming you want to keep your cover?"

"Padmé. Padmé Naberrie. It's my birth name."

"So who's that?"

"My best friend. Her name's Sabé."

"Droids are going to burst in here in five minutes by the way."

"I know, Captain Panaka informed the Queen."

"You mean the decoy."

"Sabé is just as qualified as I am."

Sio Bibble lightly raised his voice

"Alright people, showtime!"

Seconds after the entourage got into position, the droids burst into the throne room. One droid stepped forward.

"You are all under arrest. Search the guards."

One by one the two guards and Captain Panaka were divested of their weapons. Anakin fingered his blaster in the folds of his clothing and for once thanked the Force that he looked a lot younger than his age. The droids disregarded him completely.

Another droid walked up to the troops commander.

"The Viceroy wishes to speak with the Queen now. Escort them to him."

As they filed out of the throne room, they were met by the Viceroy of the Federation who immediately began discussing some matter with the decoy Queen and Sio Bibble. As this occured, Anakin again fell into the semi-meditative state pulling lightly on the bond between Obi-Wan and himself.

[Here yet?]

[Yup. Just need to find you.]

[We're being taken to be processed by the droids at Camp 4 apparently.]

[How many droids?]

[8. 4 for you and 4 for Master Jinn.]

[Great. So where are you?]

[I see some bridge thingie coming up. You?]

[Watching you looking at said bridge thingie. Get ready. Master Jinn and I will be there in 3…]

[2…]

[1…]

Anakin pulled out his blaster and fired at the two droids closest to him as Obi-Wan and Qui Gon performed the deadly dance of the lightsaber. In no time at all the machines were dispatched and the members of the security forces had rearmed themselves with the fallen troopers guns.

Qui Gon nodded at him in acknowledgement before speaking to the queen.

"We should leave the streets Your Highness."

They moved quickly through alleys, led by Captain Panaka and Qui Gon. Blaster at the ready, Anakin fell to the back of the group and was shortly joined by Obi-Wan.

"Getting used to Knight-life?"

"Nooo. And you say that my pranks at the Temple were bad. No. In one day I've had to fly by the seat of my pants more often than I did during a month-long practical joke!"

"Cheer up. It'll get better now."

Anakin looked at him, exasperation clear on his face before saying sarcastically,

"Why do I get the feeling that this is only where the fun begins?"

* * *

**AN:** Once again... tell me what you think :D


	3. Chapter 3: Evacuation from Naboo

**AN**: Hi again! Next installment up. Hope I didn't mess this one up too badly.

Cheers,

Eastonia

* * *

Chapter 3: Evacuation from Naboo.

_Theed._

In a small courtyard, unseen by the droid invaders, the royal court of Naboo gathered. Qui Gon turned to address them.

"We're the ambassadors from the Supreme Chancellor…"

Sio Bibble nodded

"We know. Serviceman Skywalker filled us in on the betrayal of the Trade Federation just before they arrived. It was certainly the wisest possible choice to send him to warn us ahead of the occupying forces, it gave us time to prepare our people."

Anakin's eyes widened

[Obi-Wan?]

[Yup?]

[They must never know that it was because your old breath mask broke.]

[Agreed. Relaying to Master now.]

Qui Gon raised his eyebrow at the two and nodded his head subtly.

[What did he say?]

[Well, he agreed that we should keep silent at this, they don't need to know that it was not due to our foresight, but of your lack of it that you came here first.]

[Oh. Okay.]

[Hush. I think they're headed into the hangar.]

[I'm going to speak to one of the handmaidens. Switch rear guard?]

Obi-Wan silently palmed his 'saber and nodded at Anakin, who hurried forward towards Padmé. Pulling her lightly at her elbow he drew her to the side of the group speaking to her in low tones

"Milady…"

"Padmé."

"Fine, Padmé. Care to fill the Padawan and I in?"

"Master Jinn wants to get a message to Coruscant, but they knocked out our communications a couple of hours before you arrived with your message. We need transport off this planet… I do not want to leave my people."

"I don't know if this helps because I do not exactly practice what I preach but, in the Temple, growing up, all of us initiates had to go through holo-training. And one of the lessons my class learnt was that sometimes, to save many, you've got to leave and take action elsewhere…"

The orange and yellow clothed girl nodded grimly at him as she strode forward back into position. Their group came to a door and Captain Panaka leant into the opening, mentally assessing the situation she shook his head in frustration, telling Qui Gon

"There are too many of them."

Qui Gon looked at Anakin and Obi-Wan. Anakin held his blaster once again, at the ready while Obi-Wan shifted his robes to expose his 'saber. Both nodded at him.

"That won't be a problem"

He turned to the disguised Sabé,

"Your Highness, given the situation I would recommend for you to come with us to Coruscant."

"Thank you ambassador, but my place is with my people."

Padmé seemed to move forward to explain something to her Queen when Obi-Wan interrupted them all.

"With all due respect Your Majesty, you can better serve your people on Coruscant than here. If you stay here – from what you have told us – you will be forced to sign a treaty that would be harmful to your planet. On the other hand, if you bring your case directly to the Senate and be a visible standard of your people's suffering, you may preserve many more lives than if you were to remain here."

The 'Queen' turned to Qui Gon, a vague and tired smile playing about her face.

"You have quite the aspiring negotiator on your hands there Master Jedi… Padmé?"

"We are brave, Your Highness."

"Then we shall go to Coruscant…"

As the guardsmen and Jedi readied themselves to strike, Padmé touched Anakin lightly on his shoulder.

"Was that planned?"

"No. But where Master Jinn fails at diplomacy, Obi-Wan always had excelled at it… Even if it doesn't seem that way at times."

He smirked lightly at her as she rolled her eyes

"Well, his way of wording things made more sense than yours did."

"That's why he's the Padawan and I'm just a Serviceman."

"You never seem to miss with that blaster."

"Not as elegant as a lightsaber, but it gets the job done."

He raised an eyebrow at her

"Ready?"

She nodded and their group threw the doors open and strode into the hangar bay. A troop of droids surrounded the pilots and the Captain looked at Qui Gon

"We'll need to free those pilots…"

"I'll deal with that."

said Obi-Wan as he slipped off towards the detained men. Anakin noticed the Padawan disappearing into the shadows and hurried to join him. He found his brother-in-all-but-blood observing the enemy behind a pillar. Sneaking up to him silently while disguising his Force presence he whispered

"So what's the plan?"

Obi-Wan jumped visibly as Anakin released the shields on his Force presence.

"Anakin don't do that!"

"Don't count on that. So, plan?"

"Wait for a distraction from Master Jinn and go in 'saber-a-blazing."

"Bad plan by the way."

"You got a better idea."

"Ummm…"

Anakin recalled the methods he used to get to Theed in the first place. Rummaging around his hidden pack he produced another of the short range EMP emitters.

"This will short them out – temporarily I think – for 15 or so minutes if I can rig this right."

"What is it?"

"Electro-magnetic pulse grenade. Shorts out anything that requires a processor."

"…The plane?"

"It is short range you know. The craft won't be affected, it would be a shame if she was – she looks like a beauty."

"Fine. How does this work?"

Meanwhile Qui Gon was halted by a droid commander as he lead the main party to the Nubian craft, he breathed

"I'm the ambassador to the Supreme Chancellor and I'm taking these people to Coruscant."

"To where?"

"To Coruscant."

"Wait that…"

Qui Gon noticed small baubles roll into the midst of the detainees and the group of groups surrounding the craft. The droid halted in the middle of its sentence and fell to the ground in what appeared to be a seizure before powering down. Pilots ran towards the ship and Qui Gon quickly escorted the group on. In a few scant minutes later, they took off into the Nabooan skies and headed for the atmosphere. Qui Gon found his apprentice and pulled him aside

"I thought you would have used your skills with the lightsaber Obi-Wan."

"Yeah… Well Anakin convinced me otherwise."

At the expression on Qui Gon's face he continued

"Think about it, a line of carnage would alert the Federation to our escape that much sooner. The droids will reboot in about 10 minutes from now. Also they would have been able to retrieve the data from their black boxes to find where we are headed. This way, our trail is that much harder to scent because the emissions corrupt the most recent files beyond retrieval."

"Anakin told you all about this didn't he?"

"Well, he is the mechanical expert here. That, and he thinks that the droids actually might get addicted to the emitters…"

"He's trying to turn the droids into addicts?"

* * *

_Palace of Theed – Naboo._

"FIND THEM!"

Nute Gunray stormed about the throne room in Theed, frustrations mounting as he found that the Queen had evaded his guards.

"Viceroy, the troops in the hangar bay report nothing unusual. But when we search the security holo-records we found this."

As the records played, the Neimoidian narrowed his eyes at the holos of the Jedi.

"They will be headed to Coruscant. Stop any ship from leaving Nabooan space!"

* * *

_In the middle of the Trade Federation's Blockade._

"So far so good"

Said Qui Gon, who was standing behind the pilot's seat, Obi-Wan groaned at his station at the ships weaponary

"Great master, now you've jinxed us… AGAIN!"

Anakin ran into the cockpit

"Did Master Jinn just jinx us?"

"Yup."

"Oh just great master, now'll they'll begin firing at us in 3…2...1…"

The ship rocked back and forth from the impact. The two younger Jedi looked pointedly at Qui Gon and as one chorused

"We told you so."

"You may have a point there…"

Another barrage of blasts hit the ship, and the alarm rang

"They've taken out the shield generators!"

Anakin's expression shifted, suddenly all business as he looked over the statistics the computer displayed

"How many of our droids are out there?"

"4, Serviceman Jedi. Wait, no, 3!"

"If the last droid fails I'll suit up and see what I can do."

Looking at his friend and Qui Gon he smiled grimly.

"Well, it was nice knowing you."

"May the Force be with you Anakin."

"May it be with us all."

Anakin turned to dash to the maintenance shaft and the remaining men in the cockpit sighed. The pilot pulled out a wooden lucky charm.

"Knock on wood."

He said rapping his knuckles lightly on the trinket – and suddenly the warning alerts being blared out by the computers ever so often stopped. An inter-ship communication channel opened and Anakin's voice blared through

"I don't believe it! So here I am suiting up and getting ready to head out when the last droid, that little droid did it! We've rebooted the shield generator and power's back. What happened up there anyway?"

Obi-Wan and Qui Gon shrugged, not quite willing to believe what just happened. Seeing their reluctance, the pilot spoke up

"Well sir, I knocked on wood."

"…"

"It's an old folk's tale on Naboo. When bad luck comes your way, knock on wood and your day will get better."

"Obi-Wan! You hear that? A jinx nullifier!"

Obi-Wan chuckled a little.

"Yup, sure did. But we can't go lugging around chunks of wood."

"Maybe a carving? Or a charm?"

"Sirs, we're losing power fast. And the hyperdrive is leaking."

"Anakin?"

"Sorry, can't do much about the power. That, we need a refuel – or maybe a Jedi at the wheel – from what I see here, the hyperdrive was busted before this. I could tweak it a little to try and restore it, but that is severely unlikely. I would be more comfortable putting in a new one instead."

"That means we can't get to Coruscant…"

Qui Gon mused worriedly before Obi-Wan gestured for him to see something on his screen.

"We're on the Outer Rim master, there's a planet close by, Tatooine."

"The desert planet Anakin keeps talking about."

"Ummm… You lot in the cockpit, I think we should land there. Based on my professional opinion, we need to refuel. Soon."

"Not because you felt the planet is calling you?"

"Nooo. Because your fuel levels are abysmal. You've got enough to get you there. And on the plus side Tatooine is controlled by the Hutts, not the Trade Federation and the Hutts are not hunting for the Queen. Also, I managed to come top in my class for Huttese."

"Not the time for bragging Anakin."

"Am not… The droid unit that saved our lives has just returned, just so you know… And Jar Jar has been complaining to me for the past 10 minutes about how rude this particular unit is, which I believe is just…"

"Anakin, the Queen has just summoned us, clean up and meet us in her chambers."

"Roger that master."

* * *

_Coruscant._

The deep sapphire blue blade swirled about the boy the Jedi named their Chosen One. His temporary master observed him as the youth ran through the katas. The old Jedi Master raised his voice

"Stop young Padawan."

Ferus glanced at the wizened, almond-eyed, olive-skinned and white bearded Jedi in a disgruntled manner.

"Something is troubling you."

"Master, sometimes I feel as if I'm not where I'm supposed to be. Well, not being a Jedi, being the Chosen One I mean."

"Your future is clouded young Olin."

"And so is Skywalker's, yet the council seem to be less wary of his cloudy future than mine."

"Because of some differences."

"Let me guess, he's not the Chosen One and he's a Serviceman?"

"They are parts of the reason."

Ferus bowed to the old Master.

"I'm going to clean up now if there's nothing else for today master."

He nodded dismissing him, and his temporary Padawan walked away.

[No Ferus, the difference is that while both your futures are clouded with storm. We can't seem to find the break in yours. We can find the break in his.]

* * *

**AN**: You know the drill, tell me what you think!


	4. Chapter 4: Tatooine and Shmi

**AN: **Hope you're enjoying the story so far! A little more background in this chapter. Hopefully, again, I didn't mess this one up too much. It would be a great help if you readers can find the errors I missed during the writing process.

Cheers,

Eastonia

* * *

Chapter 4: Tatooine and Shmi

_Tatooine._

Shmi Skywalker-Lars looked up into the clear starry desert sky. She found it hard to believe that not a year after Anakin's birth on Bandomeer, she came back to the planet she had spent so much of her life on.

Knowing that she was in her past, something in her warned her not to come into contact with her past self. So she went to the one place Gardulla wouldn't send her slaves willingly.

The Sandpeople.

In the past, she had been the liaison between the natives of Tatooine and her Hutt slavemaster. Who knew that the slavery she was subjected to would gain her the skills to survive with them? She knew of their language, their culture and their beliefs.

So she braved a sandstorm.

They accepted her as a messenger from the spirits to live among them. They would call her The Wise One, The Unifier of the desert – and K'Ru'rah. The daughter of peace.

And indeed, tensions between the human settlers of Tatooine and the Tusken Raiders had all but disappeared. Trade routes opened, water was akin to currency.

And that was how, a year after Anakin should have been born, she met the widow Cliegg Lars and his 11 year old son.

Because of her unique position in the Tusken tribes, she often would settle disputes between the settlers of Tatooine and them. The Lars were a case that quickly became personal.

At first she had been frustrated at all of his prejudices against the Tuskens, some of them she shared in her early experiences with them. But after living amongst them for years she understood them, and the regular traders were coming to as well. And so, she determined to herself, would he.

To her surprise after the man let go of his prejudices, she actually liked him. Like turned to love and not 5 years after they met – they married.

The Lars homestead became a regular meeting place for the Tuskens and their human traders to commune. Fire stories, like the one she could see in the distance, had become a regular entertainment with the children of these merchants. Many of them considered the young raiders to be their friends.

While it was true that younglings could be the most cruel creatures in the universe, their innocence also made them the most accepting. In her mind's eye she saw a generation of Tatooine growing up together, without the prejudices and with stronger bonds. A generation that understood each other's limitations. A generation that cared.

After her marriage, Gardulla found her again, and tried to retake her into her service. Cliegg and the Tuskens opposed her, and for a small sum (compared to what Gardulla would have surely demanded without the Tusken and Human threat), freed her for good.

Still, in some places in Mon Espa she was called 'Slave scum'. 'Runaway' and worst of all from her former fellow slaves – 'Traitor'. It was for that reason that she didn't venture to the cities of Tatooine very often.

"Enjoying the festival?"

She smiled up at her husband

"Hard to believe that a couple of years back only a handful of humans would experience the richness of the native culture."

"Good thing you're here then isn't it?"

She sighed.

"What do you think we should do with that old pod that they found?"

"Break it up into parts and split the earnings 50-50 like we always do."

She started.

"Not yet."

"Shmi?"

"I'll go with you to Mon Espa tomorrow."

"Sweetspice, you're not comfortable there."

"I have to go. Something tells me we'll need the pod."

"Oh. Just like you buying those tools that no one is allowed to use. Those feelings of yours…"

"Hey I might not be Force-sensitive enough to be a Jedi, but I know that my intuition has never steered me wrong before."

"Oh really?"

"It led me to you."

"Hard to argue with that logic."

Her eyes drew towards the stars and wandered back to the desert sand, a cool mist inviting her residents out into the mystery of the Tatooine night. She thought to herself, fingering one of the two pieces of japor wood

[It's almost as if she's welcoming someone home…]

* * *

_On board the Nubian Royal Starship._

"Oh how the mighty have fallen."

Padmé paused in her cleaning of R2-D2 and looked up at the short, dirty blonde haired, baby-faced youth before smirking

"You're teasing me aren't you?"

"Nooo. I would never tease a Queen."

"But you would tease me."

"You're not dressed the part milady… Sorry… Padmé."

"Harlo,"

Suddenly the Gungan popped his head into the cabin, startling the humans in there as R2-D2 laughed mechanically. Anakin glared at the droids, the amount of his time spent among them giving him an insight to their language and expressions while Padmé just stared at the gangly thing.

"Soary. Whosa are yousa?"

"I'm Padmé. That's…"

"We've met."

Anakin interrupted before she could introduce him.

"Esh! Little Ani!"

He sighed.

"Jar Jar, I'm older than Padmé."

Padmé looked at him – clearly conveying the message of 'where are your manners' – as he shrugged, a reply that said – 'somewhere back on Naboo'. She turned to the Gungan

"How did you end up here with us… Let him tell his story Anakin."

She quickly added as Anakin moved to speak, the Nabooan native ambled into the room as he spoke

"Me no know...mesa day starten pitty okeyday witda brisky morning munchen. Den boom...getten berry skeered, un grabbed dat Jedi, and... Pow! Mesa here."

He huffed nervously, looking at the two humans

"Mesa getten berry berry skeered."

Anakin felt his fright through the Force and smiled at Jar Jar emphatically, he knew how he felt.

"Honestly Jar Jar? Me too."

Padmé and Jar Jar looked at him surprised

"Jedi Servicemen almost never go into the field. Only Masters, Knights and Padawans do. Sometimes an Initiate or two would work with the Sentinel Investigators to go undercover, but once you join the Corps, any chance of going on a mission becomes next to nil. That was why I was so surprised that Master Yoda assigned me to join Obi-Wan and Master Jinn on this mission. I've been making things up as I went along ever since I escaped the Federation flagship."

Padmé smiled at him

"To be frank, for someone who doesn't quite know what he's doing, you're doing fine. The early days of my career, I was given some advice from my mentor. 'When you start, you'll have no clue what to do, and that is normal. No amount of classes can prepare you for true office. The important thing is to act like you know what you're doing and eventually you'll find you do know what to do.' From what I've seen, if you were chosen as a Padawan, you would have done pretty well."

"But I'm a Serviceman now. It'll take a miracle to become a Padawan at my age, I'm too old."

"Pushing 15 is too old?"

"The very latest you can become a Padawan normally is 13. I'll be a year and 8 months behind at the very least."

The three organic beings fell into silence before the inter-ship communications system crackled to life. Anakin walked over to it

"Skywalker here."

"Anakin, we're coming up to Tatooine now."

"Okay, what then Obi-Wan?"

"There's a settlement – called Mon Espa. What can you tell us about it?"

"Ummm… Lots of slaves… Home of the Boonta Eve Classic…"

"Will they have parts there Anakin?"

"Obi-Wan, Boonta Eve Classic…"

"…"

"Pod-racing?"

"…"

"Yes, they'll have the parts."

"Great! We'll be landing shortly."

Padmé rose as a small comlink chimed, R2-D2 finally clean.

"The Queen summons me."

"Yeah, I should probably go too. See you Jar Jar!"

The humans left the cabin, leaving Jar Jar with R2-D2.

* * *

_The Outskirts of Mon Espa - Tatooine._

Qui Gon strode out into the desert together with Jar Jar and R2-D2 when suddenly Captain Panaka called out to him

"Wait!"

The three turned and watched as a handmaiden, Anakin and the Captain ran up to them, eyes squinting in the desert sand.

"Wait…"

"Master, you didn't think you could go without me did you? I'm your technician! I should be allowed to see what parts you're obtaining for the vessel."

"I thought 'Artoo' would be enough."

Qui Gon replied, shortening the droids number as he did so.

"Well, Artoo can't rewire himself, he needs an engineer to do that. Besides, the planetary language here is Huttese. Basic would definitely get us cheated."

Qui Gon sighed and turned to Captain Panaka

"Fine. And what about you?"

"Her Highness commands you to take her handmaiden with you."

"No more commands from Her Highness today captain. The space port is not going to be pleasant. I wouldn't allow young Skywalker to come if it were not for the fact that he is our assigned technician."

He turned to leave and the captain grabbed his shoulder

"The Queen wishes it, she's curious about the planet."

A moment passed and Qui Gon once again sighed.

"This is not a good idea. Stay close to me you two. Anakin, blaster at ready – subtly if you can manage it."

Anakin nodded and placed one hand on his holstered blaster beneath the poncho he was wearing to cover up the Jedi Corps robes he had changed back into during the flight. As one the mismatched group turned and headed towards the city. Captain Panaka watched them for a time before heading back into the ship to protect his Queen.

* * *

_Mon Espa._

The group wandered through the streets of Mon Espa Qui Gon pointing out sights and sounds as Anakin shook his head.

"Padmé, Tatooine is mostly moisture farms. There are some indigenous tribes but according to what I've read, they are slightly xenophobic."

Qui Gon picked up his line of thought

"There are scavengers and slavers here, so we must be careful. There are few space ports like these…"

"In fact,"

Anakin interrupted

"Two of these 'smuggler's paradise' are found right here, on Tatooine."

Qui Gon nodded as he continued

"These places are a haven for those who don't want to be found."

"Like us, you mean."

Padmé stated and Qui Gon looked at her grimly

"Exactly."

Jar Jar shook his head

"Tis is berry berry bad..."

He said as he accidentally stepped into a small pile of bantha dung

"Ooh! Icky Icky goo!"

They walked in silence as they ventured deeper into the port, of the 5 of them excluding the master Jedi, Anakin appeared to be the most comfortable here. He halted suddenly

"Master, we should try one of the smaller dealers."

"Alright Anakin, you lead the way."

Anakin led the group towards a small shop, and a woman dressed in blue noticed him as they passed.

"Cliegg. We need to follow them."

"Alright Shmi, but stay close, you know where we are."

* * *

_Inside Watto's Scrap Shop - Tatooine._

The blue Toydarian looked up as the bell to his shop chimed. A strange group of 4 beings and a droid walked in. He flapped over to them inclining his head a little in greeting and spoke in Huttese, trying to determine whether these were Outlanders or not.

"Good day to you."

Centering his focus on the grown man – of whom he felt was the main spokesperson of the group – he continued in Huttese

"What do you want?"

The man was about to reply when the boy – who didn't look more than 10 years old – interrupted them and spoke in perfect, fluent Huttese

"We need parts for a J-Type 327 Nubian."

"Ah! Nubian! Yes, I have parts for those out back. But I can't leave the store…"

Padmé nudged Anakin and whispered to him

"Tell him I'll watch the store for him."

"Are you sure you're not an angel?"

"A what?"

"An angel - beautiful beings that work for the good of others and are a source of comfort... Read about them in the Jedi Archives."

"I'm pretty sure I'm just human Ani. Anyway, relay the message to him?"

Anakin nodded and relayed her message to the Toydarian in Huttese.

"What assurances do I have that she would not take anything?"

"You want collateral? Wait a moment."

As the boy turned to his companions to speak in low tones, the Toydarian once again mused how much easier his life would have been if he had some slaves to help him. Unfortunately, he lost the bet with Gardulla several years ago. Taking most of his business with her.

Anakin spoke to them

"Well, I've got nothing on me but my blaster. And Jar Jar has nothing… Padmé?"

"Didn't think to bring anything with me."

"Master?"

Qui Gon pulled out his lightsaber and was about to pop out the chamber

"Master Jinn, no. We'll find something else. Something tells me that you'll need that very soon."

"Ex-squeeze my. Wat abot da dwoid?"

The organic beings looked at each other and looked at Artoo.

"That'll work."

Anakin turned back to the Toydarian. And called out in Huttese

"You, sir!"

"Watto my boy."

"Fine, Watto. We'll put our droid as collateral. It will record all happenings in this shop to prove nothing gets stolen or broken as Padmé watches the shop. Deal?"

The Toydarian looked at him for a minute.

"Deal."

"Alright then… wait one moment please."

He walked over to Qui Gon

"Master Jinn, if we leave Jar Jar in here we'll lose Artoo. I'm pretty sure we don't want that to happen."

Master Jinn yet again sighed and walked over to Jar Jar as Watto's back was turned. Checking to see that Anakin was engaging the shop owner in conversation he quickly did a mind trick.

"I want to wait outside until I'm called for."

"My wants to weiten outside until my's callen fors."

The Gungan ambled out the shop door, without breaking anything thankfully – even if Qui Gon had to use the Force to save and place a few things back to where they were. He hurried back to Anakin who raised a brow,

"Shall we?"

Anakin nodded.

"Artoo, start recording!"

* * *

_Coruscant._

"Master Lǎo, walk with me."

Ferus's temporary master turned to Yoda and bowed

"Of course Grandmaster."

They hobbled along in silence for a time before the ancient being looked at him

"Ruì Zhé, what is wrong?"

"My temporary Padawan, Yoda."

"Ah… Do you feel that Master Jinn he shouldn't be given over to? Perhaps train him to knighthood feel you should?"

Ruì Zhé shook his head and laughed wearily

"I'm old Master Yoda. I'll be pushing 120 next year."

"Young you still are."

"By human standards I'm ancient – and you're close to immortal. No. Master Jinn may have him. I wish to spend my last days in peace."

"What do you see old friend?"

"I see the shroud around us growing thicker. I see deception. I see fear. I see our way of life being destroyed. I see hope. I see rebuilding. But the future is always in motion. Who knows if that will come to pass."

"Master Yaddle might ask you to be mindful of the future – as would I."

"All I can tell you is this. Things are not as they seem. When Obi-Wan is knighted I will tell you of something the Force has revealed to me – but you and you alone must be the keeper of it. When I pass no one else should know."

* * *

_Inside Watto's Scrap Shop – Tatooine._

"Get out! No money, no service!"

The Toydarian yelled at the group, before turning to the woman and her husband. He knew her well, she was one of Gardulla's former slaves and was K'Ru'rah of the Tusken Raiders.

"No service for slaves either. Former or current!"

"Hey!"

The boy cried, finally switching to Basic.

"You can't treat her like that!"

"She's a slave!"

The blue Toydarian said.

"She's a person!"

Anakin shot back in a growl. The husband of the ex-slave joined him in his protest against the treatment his wife received.

"And her name is Shmi Skywalker-Lars!"

Anakin's world stopped for a minute as the group, plus 2 walked off from that shop. He turned to the woman.

"Skywalker?"

"Yes."

"Were you ever on Bandomeer?"

"Just a few months."

"Did you ever give birth there?"

Shmi stopped for a moment and looked at the boy hard.

"Anakin? My little Anakin?"

He smiled as he hugged her tightly, joy flooding his spirit and exploding in his Force-prescene as he finally met the woman who gave birth to him.

"Mum…"

* * *

**AN:** So Anakin finally meets his mum :D. As always, tell me what you think :D.


	5. Chapter 5: Learning, Building and Japor

**AN**: Here's chapter 5! It's a rather fillery chapter if I do say so myself. But it explains some things about, things and reintroduces some people to other people. Plus, to keep to some of the event of the movies I needed to find a way to insert someone... Hopefully again, I have not made too many mistakes...

Cheers,

Eastonia

* * *

Chapter 5: Learning, Building and Japor.

_Mon Espa – Tatooine._

Qui Gon finally recognised the woman as they walked towards the temporary quarters Cliegg and Shmi were staying in and offered to share as they had offered to shelter them for the time being from the sandstorm

"You're the woman that helped us back on Bandomeer."

Shmi smiled.

"Ah, yes, I helped to shelter you and your Padawan. And gave him Anakin to bring him to the Temple to train …"

She turned to her son

"So you're his Padawan now?"

"No."

He shook his head sadly

"Just a Serviceman. Most of the Knights and Masters believed I was too wild to be trained…"

Qui Gon shook his head

"Your constant stream of pranks didn't help much young one. But you know that if Obi-Wan had been knighted in time, you would have been his Padawan – you already have the bond, and I sense he has been teaching you anyway. He did promise you."

Anakin looked off into the blue Tatooine sky

"I rather he trains he because he wants to than he promised to. I feel better Master; that he is choosing to train me as my brother than as an obligation."

"So you admit to training Anakin."

"There's no point in denying it if you can sense it Master Jinn. It's unconventional, and I didn't actually realise he was training me until this."

"What do you mean?"

"I used Force-speed to get past the droids and to reach the throne room before the invasion. Obi-Wan taught me that when we… liberated some of the candies from the kitchens."

"That was you and Obi-Wan?"

"Yup. And to survive the Trade Federation flagship, I used a mind trick. That was used when we snuck out for droid parts and had to trick some of the younger Initiates."

"Is that why the ruined droids were mysteriously repaired the next morning?"

"That was also when I learnt how to shield my Force presence by the way…"

Qui Gon nodded as Shmi's eyes widened at the short recollections of her child's antics

"I was wondering why you flickered in and out of the Force in the hangar bay."

Shmi just looked at them

"I gave birth to a hellion, didn't I?"

Anakin smiled sheepishly as he moved forward towards Cliegg Lars, determined to find out what kind of person his mother had married. Qui Gon shook his head

"A hellion with a heart of gold."

Noticing her inquiring look he quickly continued

"The Temple has been a brighter place ever since he joined us. In fact, the Jedi Service Corps Headquarters for Mechanics is not on Coruscant. New assignees often have to leave the Temple upon their assignment to their new designation. Anakin would have been trained away from the Temple. Instead he was kept on Coruscant. In the eye of the Council. It's not that they don't trust him – I think there is not one Master on that council that has not snuck him candy at least once – or used him as a means to an end in jokes against each other."

"He is loved then?"

"Jedi might deny all forms of attachment, but I suspect your son has wormed his way into all of their hearts… particularly Master Yaddle I think."

"How so."

"She often guides him around the Archives when he has to serve out probation under her. I actually suspect that there are a few things he has learnt that neither Obi-Wan nor I completely know about… He's always had a very strong connection to the Force. If not for his midi-chlorian count being within the – to put it loosely – normal scale with Master Yoda's at the highest end, I would have said that he could have been the Chosen One. But he isn't – Ferus Olin is… So why Tatooine?"

"I felt like I needed to come back here."

"Oh?"

She glanced around the city, a soft smile playing on her face.

"You know, Anakin should have been 9 this year."

"What?"

"14 years ago, I suddenly became pregnant. I remember venturing out into the desert and getting caught in a sandstorm and passing out. 14 years ago I was , but in actual fact it was only 9. A month before I gave birth to Ani, I ventured out into the desert to conduct some liaisons with the people of the sand – the next thing I remember is waking on Bandomeer, 5 years into my past. After I gave him over to the Temple I came here. And avoided myself the whole time because something was telling me to. Next thing I know a month before Anakin's 5th birthday, I wake up feeling five years younger and to my surprise… I am."

"You were wise to avoid yourself. That would have created a paradox."

"A paradox?"

"A paradox. A rip in the space-time continuity."

"Ah… Very bad thing then?"

"Extremely."

"Well, here we are."

Cliegg said as he turned to face them all.

"Rented suite sweet rented suite."

"The sandstorms coming,"

Shmi spoke up

"We should get inside. Quickly now everyone. Sandstorms are very, very dangerous."

* * *

_Coruscant._

"Another mission?"

"Don't look so surprised Ferus, I am a part of a Master-Padawan team you know."

"But so soon? You've barely been here 2 days!"

"Looks like your visits to the good senator are about to go up again."

"Sometimes I think the Council is doing this on purpose."

"Doing what on purpose?"

"Keeping you away from me."

"Ferus…"

"Darra…"

"They are not doing this on purpose. You not being fair my friend. You know Master Antara and I are considered among the best teams there are in service."

"Doesn't mean I have to like that my best friend is headed out yet again to risk her life."

"Hey, when Master Jinn takes you on, we can ask him to put in a request that our teams work together closely in the same unit."

"You really think he would go for that?"

"He is considered a rather maverick Jedi."

"Fine. And be careful out there Dars."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah… gotta stay in one piece to make sure the Chosen One stays sane."

"And don't you forget it."

"Force be with you Darra Thel-Tanis."

"And with you Ferus Olin."

* * *

_A suite in Mon Espa – Tatooine._

"…And that is our situation."

Cliegg leant back into his chair and glanced at the motley group. He still couldn't quite wrap his head around the fact that he was hosting 2 Jedi (even if one was a Serviceman and was not actually supposed to be held in the same respect as the Master Jedi…), a Nabooan Handmaiden (who according to herself was akin to being on par with the top bodyguards of the system), a Gungan (whose native home was underwater…UNDERWATER!), and a Astromech droid whom the group seemed to have dubbed affectionally, 'Artoo'. He sighed and opened his mouth to speak.

"Watto is known for possessing some of the best and widest range of spare parts here on Tatooine. We used to deal our salvage to him until he found that Shmi was an ex-slave. Ever since then, we've boycotted his business. But the only thing else that he has concerning his products - is integrity. If he says that no one else had the parts for your Nubian, then no one else does have the parts for a Nubian."

"Urgh!"

Anakin threw his hands up in the air.

"That's it. Now how are we going to get those parts now?"

He looked at the beings in the room 1 by 1, before facing Qui Gon

"Master Jinn, I need to meditate,"

Abruptly he turned to the Lars.

"Do you have any spare parts?"

"I thought you were going to meditate Anakin."

"I am, I just need spare parts and some tools rather than quiet and a meditation mat."

Shmi looked at Cliegg triumphantly.

"I told you so."

She said smugly as she walked over to her travel case and drew out a packet.

"I knew our paths would cross one day… These are for you Ani."

He opened the packet.

"Tools…"

Cliegg smiled kindly at his new-found stepson.

"There's some parts out back if you need them."

"Thanks… both of you."

Grinning momentarily at them he bolted away from the group through one of the doors that led to an indoor garage. Moments after he left Padmé rose from her seat.

"I think I'll use that kitchenette I saw as we came in to prepare some snacks and drinks. I can't cook very well, I'm afraid, but for some reason I'm a fair hand at baking. I also have to contact Her Majesty and update her about all I've seen and explain the reasons for our delay."

"Fair enough, see you later Padmé."

Qui Gon looked at the 2 other remaining human in the room.

"Your boy is a mechanical genius, you know."

"I recall you mentioning something about droids being mysteriously repaired?"

"Ah yes. Would you like to hear a few stories?"

Cliegg looked at his wife and saw the eagerness shining in her eyes. He couldn't imagine what it would have been like if he had been separated from Owen. Softly he looked at the Jedi Master as he took her hand

"We would love to learn about our son."

Shmi's eyes brightened and Qui Gon started his tales.

* * *

_Onboard the Royal Nubian Starcruiser._

"Padawan Kenobi?"

Obi-Wan started and turned to face a handmaiden. She looked the same age as Padmé, maybe even the Queen – but who could tell really under all that face paint? She smiled at him.

"My name is Sabé. The Queen wishes to thank you, Master Jinn and Serviceman Anakin for your service so far to the Naboo."

"It is our pleasure milady."

"It's Sabé. So. What are you doing?"

"Running diagnostics on the hyperdrive. Anakin told me that if they can't find a replacement here then he'll grab some spare parts and see what he can do to cobble a repair within 24 hours. But first he'll need to know what needs a repair and what needs a replacement."

Sabé once again smiled. She was grateful that firstly, Versé had agreed to swap places with her on decoy duty and allow her to stretch her legs. And secondly, she was grateful that the Padawan's Force-senses seemed to be off their alert so he couldn't tell that another swap had been made. Padmé, her best friend and her Queen had explained to her how Anakin had found out that decoy duty had been invoke... She didn't know that Jedi Servicemen had the same training as a knight…

"You know, Padmé told me Serviceman Skywalker could sense her presence. Is that normal for a Serviceman?"

"No. All Initiates are given the barebones training: meditation, initial lightsaber forms, piloting, policy, guarding against the Dark side… But the other skills, the major part of lightsaber training, Force-sensing, applying the Force in combat and espionage situations... That's for a Knight or Master to choose to teach their Padawan. For example, my training has been focused mainly on combat – with a strong leaning to negotiations and diplomacy."

"So why can Serviceman Skywalker…?"

"I might have slipped in a thing or 2 to him."

"You really wanted him to become your Padawan didn't you?"

"I wanted him to become a Padawan. He's good at the Jedi arts. It was a waste that no one wanted him."

"I said 'your Padawan' Jedi Kenobi, not 'a Padawan'."

Obi-Wan started and looked at the brown eyed girl more closely

"Jedi aren't allowed attachments."

"And yet you call Serviceman Skywalker 'brother', and you both treat Master Jinn as your father."

Obi-Wan sighed

"Lady Sabé, did you know Master Jinn and I were the first males to hold him as a baby? We found him and his mother on Bandomeer. She had been in the care of the female AgriCorps members ever since they found her wandering randomly around in the rain during the last month of her pregnancy… I didn't see him again till I was 15 and he was 3. He ran behind me and hid as Ferus Olin – who is the Chosen One according to the Council – ran up to him and started yelling at him in the way only 3 year olds can… Coincidentally that was also the day that Ferus found out who he was."

"So you re-met when he was 3?"

"And he stuck to me like binder ever since. I'm now 25 and he's 14 and he still can get me involved in one of his elaborate pranks."

"You are sooo attached."

"Don't remind me."

* * *

_In the suite in Mon Espa – Tatooine._

"So… whatcha doing?"

Anakin jumped a little as Padmé popped her head into the small room with many spare parts, a droid coming together in his hands.

"Protocol droid. I'm nearly done."

"A little over 3 hours and you're nearly done building an entire droid?"

"Just the main processing, mobility, sensory and speech units. All the parts needed for that were here. Only thing missing is covering."

"Well… turn him on then!"

"Of course Your Majesty."

"None of that now Ani."

"Sorry Padmé."

He grinned and turned the droid on

"Oo! Oh! …Um sorry, where is everybody."

"Oops!"

Anakin grimaced as he picked up an eyepiece with the Force and with his hands snapped it into place on the droid. Padmé stifled a laugh at this and he rolled his eyes at her. The droid – now complete save for its covering – shifted into a more upright sitting position as it glanced around the room.

"Oh! Hello, I am C-3PO human-cyborg relations. How might I serve you?"

"He's perfect."

Padmé said looking at it as Anakin packed the tools.

"Yeah, well… you can have him if I ever become a Padawan and need Artoo as a trade."

"Deal. But you said you were meditating, but instead you built something…"

"Meditation is used to clear the mind, and contemplate. And sometimes to seek out traces of the Dark side in our system to eliminate them. Ordinarily you would need calm and quiet to do this. I've never done well with it. Landed me in probation quite a few times in fact. Master Yaddle was often my parole master in those days, she taught me quite a few things… including, when she heard of my problem, the concept of moving meditation. It's very rare and few can perform it because it uses motion in the same way as stillness for contemplation. But its best suited for one of my nature."

"Reckless?"

"Restless."

"What do you mean naked?"

Anakin and Padmé were distracted from their conversation at the unexpected statement C-3PO made. Artoo whistled and beeped and Anakin covered a smile at what the little droid said.

"My parts are showing?"

The protocol droid looked down at himself

"Ah!"

The two 14 year olds grinned at each other in amusement and Anakin shook his head in amusement, turning to finish packing the tools his mother had bought for him. His hand hit a small package at the bottom of the tool pack.

[What's this?]

He thought to himself privately, being sure to prevent broadcasting as he unravelled the item and found a smooth piece of white wood and a letter written by his mother, apparently on the day of her engagement.

[Anakin, my son. I do not know if I would ever see you again. But something tells me I will. Today Cliegg Lars – a moisture farmer – gave me a snippet of japor that he carved into a pendent as an engagement present. We are to be married soon. The piece of japor he has given me is ebony, he has added on white to emphasise the carved swirls. He says it reminds him of me – the clear desert night with guiding stars visible for all to see to point the way. The piece of japor I give to you is ivory. I'm keeping it in my pocket until the time is right. I know of the Jedi Code, but at the same time I get the impression of grandchildren whenever I think of you… I love you. Your mother, Shmi Skywalker – (soon to be Skywalker-Lars).]

He placed the letter down in contemplation. As he fingered the cool polished wood before looking up at Padmé and blushing, turning to look back down at the snippet he thought to himself

[Mum is from Tatooine and she says I was conceived here. I wonder if she has any native symbols I could use for this… This is my homeworld after all.]

* * *

**AN**: I guess you would know the drill... Tell me what you think!


	6. Chapter 6: Shifting Gears

**AN**: Once again, it's fillery. And Anakin backgroundy. I wanted to show how different and the same he was due to the complete Jedi upbringing. Most of these will be dealt with in this and the next chapter. The Boonta Eve Classic is coming up in the next chapter just so you know. I'm not sure any longer about the length of the story - since I'm writing it almost movie-style with the quick scene changes instead of a gentle passing... But I am planning on a rewrite of the entire Saga, according to Shift!verse differences. Will let you guys know by the end of this story when I plan to put those up.

Cheers,

Eastonia.

* * *

Chapter 6: Shifting Gears

_The Queen's Quarters – Onboard the Royal Nubian Starcruiser._

There wasn't any time for Sabé to get back into position when Governor Bibble called.

"The death toll is catastrophic. We must bow to their wishes, you must contact me!"

His image wavered and disappeared from their sight. Obi-Wan stood up and faced the decoy of the decoy. Versé, in her guise of the Queen asked Obi-Wan

"Is he telling the truth Padawan Kenobi."

"No. If people truly were dying at a catastrophic rate, Master Jinn and I would have felt their loss through the Force. It must be a trick. Send no reply. Send no transmissions of any kind. I shall confirm this with my Master."

He said as he left the room and headed to the cockpit, the disguised Versé ordered the captain.

"Leave me for some time, I wish to rest."

"Of course, Your Majesty."

They watched as the captain of the guard left the cabin. Versé looked at Sabé as Saché looked out the door.

"Coast's clear. Switch back… now!"

A flurry of activity commenced.

* * *

_A Suite in Mon Espa – Tatooine._

"It sounds like a bait to establish a connection trace…"

Said Qui Gon through the audio communications device. Obi-Wan hesitated for a second and Qui Gon could picture him nodding before remembering that he was using an audio communication device, before replying him

"But master, what if it is true? What if people are dying despite what we can sense from the Force?"

"Either way we're running out of time."

Anakin popped his head into the small room Qui Gon was using to take Obi-Wan's call.

"Mum's finished cooking the night-meal, and Padmé is pulling out the last of her baked goods from the oven. Do you want to join us or do you want us to keep a plate warm for you so you can finish that call with Obi-Wan?"

"I've just ended the call actually."

"Great!"

Anakin beamed at the Jedi Master, pulling him over to the table where Cliegg, Shmi, Jar Jar and Padmé already sat.

"It smells delicious Mum."

"Thank you Ani."

"Better than anything Obi-Wan or Qui Gon tried to make… Master, I've never figured this one out. How did you manage to burn water?"

Qui Gon blushed deeply as Padmé gazed at him in awe

"You can't cook? I thought Jedi's could do anything!"

Shmi's eyes sparkled

"Now, now Padmé. What happened to that salad you were making?"

"It turned into…"

"I can't decide if it's goo or if it's liquidised."

"That's different! I told you I can't cook!"

"And yet…"

She gestured to the pallie-filled pie

"You can bake."

"It's a mystery my mother has never been able to solve. Sometimes, living on my own I end up surviving on pastries that I bake. Gets tiring at times because – nothing savoury I make remains edible."

Anakin's eyes lit up.

"Is that pallie-filled?"

Padmé and Shmi looked at each other

"Yes… Why?"

She said in confusion

"I love pallies!"

Qui Gon smiled

"It's true, whenever we got a shipment of pallies, we would see this young man headed out of the kitchens with as much of those as his arms could carry… Never figured out why he didn't use the Force to get more out."

"Initiates aren't taught levitation. And then after Obi-Wan showed me how, I didn't think it was fair on the others. But I do love pallies."

"Pallies are native to Tatooine…"

Padmé mused

"They were my main craving when I was pregnant with you Ani."

"Now I know why!"

Padmé smiled tightly at them before questioning Shmi

"I can't believe that there's still slavery in the galaxy, and that you used to be outfitted with a transmitter so you don't run away. The Republic's Anti-Slavery laws…"

"The Republic doesn't exist out here. We all used survive on our own – each species to their own kind. I'm so glad that has changed at least. The Hutts control most of us, but by joining together we may be able to retake the planet. It may be hard to make a life here,"

She said clasping Cliegg's hand as he smiled lovingly at her

"But its home."

Anakin sighed.

"But we really do need those parts! I can't see how we're going to convince Watto to hand them over."

Shmi looked up nervously

"Ever heard of pod-racing?"

"Ever heard of it!"

Anakin jumped up.

"Wait, the Boonta Eve Classic is coming up soon isn't it?"

"2 days from now."

Shmi confirmed and Cliegg continued her line of thought

"Now if there is one vice Watto has, its money. He's addicted to gambling – especially on pod racing."

"So if we bet against him, and win…"

"We'll get our parts!"

"One problem though. We don't have a pod. And Anakin pod-racing is very fast and very dangerous."

"Taking a drive on Coruscant is very fast and very dangerous… And I've done that before! Without crashing into anything!"

"How and when?"

Anakin gulped visibly,

"Convinced Obi-Wan to… I was about 5?"

"5?"

"Yes?"

"5?!"

"Yes Master Jinn."

"5?!"

"Ani… I think you sent him into shock…"

Grinning sheepishly at Padmé's words, he leant over and waved his hand about the Jedi Master's face.

"Hello… Anyone home? Master Jinn? OW!"

His hand hit against a Force-barrier, which Qui Gon seemed to have erected during the process of him waving. The glazed look in his eye seemed to have cleared and turned dangerous

"Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi and I shall have _words_."

Anakin again gulped and reached for the bond

[Obi-Wan?]

[Yup?]

[Master Jinn just called you by your full name… plus your title.]

[Great. What did I do now?]

[Remember that incident when I was 5, and you had to chase down that criminal but you couldn't get the speeder going fast enough and I thought I could and you said be my guest?]

[Yes…?]

[I might have let that slip…]

[Anakin! ARGH! Well if I'm going down, you're going down with me.]

[What are you going to tell him?]

[Remember that day that you decided that the Council needed to be more colourful and dyed all their robes neon pink but you begged me to help you clean up the mess so no one could ever prove it was you?]

[Oh no…]

[Oh yes… Like I said, you're going down with me.]

Anakin grimaced as he came out of the conversation in his mind, catching the tail end of Qui Gon speech

"… even if we've got a pilot, we still don't have a pod."

"Actually,"

Shmi smirked at her husband

"We do. Told you so by the way."

"You and your feelings."

"Never led me wrong before… The desert and the Force must have wanted us to meet. That's why it called me to Mon Espa, that's why you're here with us."

"Where is the pod?"

Asked Anakin

"Out back, the spare parts are yours if you can get that thing running again."

"It's a salvage piece then?"

"Yes."

"Okay, we don't have time for astetics. When's the dateline?"

"The morning of the race. They accept anyone as long as you can get it to the starting line in time."

Shmi's eyes widened at her son's sudden seriousness

"Alright. I'll make that thing the fastest pod to ever hit the circuit. We can then use it for barter with Watto if you don't mind. Mum, I recall you saying that your practice is to split the earnings 50-50 with the Tuskens?"

"Yes?"

"Master Jinn, what you need to do is convince Watto to bet on us to win back his business from Gardulla. He'll jump at that. Mum, you and…"

"Call me Cliegg, son I don't mind if you can't think of me as a father figure yet."

"…Cliegg, need to put down some money on me. That way you can get your earnings for the pod and the spare parts I used during meditation."

"You make anything?"

"A protocol droid."

"Ah... You'll have to bring it back with you. Shmi and I will not know quite what to do with it."

Anakin nodded and left the room, striding with purpose out to the salvaged pod. Shmi leant over to Qui Gon

"It's like he's a totally different person…"

"Your son had high scores for tactical aptitude. When it comes down to the crunch, he knows when to take charge of a situation. I've seen it before when he was nine – a whole clan got stuck outside on one of the Temple's roofs because the youngest Initiate of the clan got curious. Anakin was the oldest one there and somehow managed to manoeuvre the entire clan back down. He took the blame for the entire thing. I don't think he knows that the Council knows that it's not his fault. Ferus – a peer of his – lectured him for a month. I think whenever those two get into one of their tiffs he always brings that up… And Anakin has never blurted out the truth once."

"Do you really think he can do it?"

"He built a working protocol droid in less than 3 hours. I think he can."

Said Padmé as she got up to give the Queen an update on their situation.

* * *

_Coruscant._

"It's not fair!"

Ferus nestled his head within his hands as he sat on the couch of Palpatine's office.

"We're not doing anything wrong, friendship is perfectly within the limits of the Code, but they seem to want to keep her away from me as much as possible."

"They are just afraid Ferus."

"Well, they should know me better than that. I keep to their Code! I'm the model Padawan. Why would I break it."

"You know there's a saying – a male and a female can't stay just friends. Eventually they'll start to get involved."

"They're afraid that Darra and I being friends would soon lead us into becoming something else?"

"I'm afraid so."

"Yeah. That's going to happen. Even if we decided to try and become something more, we wouldn't let ourselves. We both adhere to the Code too strongly."

"Your faith in yourself is commendable young Olin. But they want that reassurance and they would do what they feel s right to protect you from the Dark side."

"I know Senator Palpatine. I just feel like there's all this pressure on me… They're telling me what I should do, who I should see. I never am allowed to do anything I want to do. I have to be perfect. It's just so hard!"

Palpatine sighed and shifted to place an arm over the stressed Padawan, offering comfort to the boy.

"You don't have to be perfect here. Just be you."

Ferus smiled at the Senator shakily,

"Thank you, sometimes it feels like you're the only one I can trust."

* * *

_A Suite in Mon Espa, the Garage – Tatooine._

"Hey."

"Hey."

Padmé sat down next to him, he appeared to be putting a carving of something away.

"I thought you were working on the pod."

"I was. But every now and then I've got to take a break."

"And so you started carving? Let me see."

"It's not done yet, I'll show it to you when it is. By the way, why do you keep bothering me?"

He said while nudging her lightly. The smile on his too young for his actual age face indicating he meant it in jest.

"It's nothing."

"You're projecting like a guilty crèche-member."

"Is that bad?"

"Crèche-members are too young to start training, so it's like venturing into a storm there. I've been floored quite a number of times by the emotions there just by passing through. I think the only Jedi who hasn't been floored is Ferus – but that could be because he's the oh-so-perfect-and-amazingly-good Chosen One. You would think with all that power he would want to fit in a little more with the rest of us mere mortals. You know? Try for some semblance of normality? But no. I haven't seen him participate in a single prank or mischief or breaking of the rules. I don't see why Darra puts up with him. And she's the only one that does! Granted, most of our peers are like me, in the Corps now while he is a Padawan – but at least we enjoyed our facsimile of a childhood. Most of the time I don't understand that guy, but really? I pity him."

"Went way off track there Ani."

"Oops. Yes… Back on track, no, it's not nothing that is bothering you. It is something."

"I guess it's because I feel my age around you. And that you're the same age as I am. We relate better. Padawan Kenobi is 11 years older than us, Master Jinn, Captain Panaka and the pilots even more so and around the Handmaidens, even if they are the same age as me, the only one I can actually talk to is Sabé."

"What a pair we are."

Padmé grinned weakly at him as he stood and ambled over to the pod, absently using the Force to pick up some tools from the pack his mother bought him

"So aren't you going to head to bed?"

"No. I need all the time I can to tweak this into prime condition for race day… I'll sleep early tomorrow, I plan to race this bucket of bolts."

"Isn't it safer to have one of the other pilots do this?"

"Padmé, even if I'm the same age as you, I'm the smallest one here. And the lightest I wager. Pod racers are meant to be smallish… I have to be the one in that cockpit – even if the day before yesterday was the first time I was in the cockpit in over a year and a half."

"I don't know if I should be worried or scared for you."

She said standing up and heading back inside, into the sleeping area that Shmi had prepared for her, she paused and turned at the doorway, finding Anakin's eyes looking directly at her, he smiled gently

"Force be in your dreams Milady… Padmé…"

"And in yours when you finally let sleep claim you Anakin."

She replied in the same tone. Crossing the threshold into the hallway and turning the hall lights off.

And the lights in the garage where the salvaged pod was would continue on, shining into the wee hours of the night.

* * *

**AN**: Again... Please tell me what you think!


	7. Chapter 7: The Before & After -

**AN**: The Race! Now, I am personally terrible at fight scenes. The movies do a great job at those. So what I like to do is focus on the thoughts or feelings of the character, provide the sense of focus or disorientation of the fight - or in this case race, that way. Backgroundy again... Am trying to avoid Marty Stu and Mary Sue situations. Don't know if I did that... In the words of Obi-wan from the movies - "I have a bad feeling..."

Cheers,

Eastonia.

* * *

Chapter 7: - Of The Boonta Eve Classic

_A Suite in Mon Espa – Tatooine._

Anakin plopped down on his back. The double dawn was coming up and he was finally done with all the tweaks, repairs and modifications he wanted to do to the pod. It still looked like a bucket of bolts – but – as he would tell many, many others, when it comes to mechanics, it didn't quite matter if the final product looked pretty, what mattered was that it worked.

And from the way the engines sounded – which reminded him of a purring nexu – all controlled power and speed waiting to be unleashed on prey. He thought it would serve their purposes pretty well.

"Wake up young Skywalker."

He groaned,

"Master Jinn, I've just got to bed!"

The racket the 2 Jedi raised woke Padmé up.

"Oh let him sleep Master Jinn, he must have gotten to bed very late last night…"

Anakin moaned as he pulled the blanket over his head.

"Try a few minutes ago."

Padmé's eyes widened, now fully awake

"What? Anakin!"

"So I got caught up a little in the repairs and modifications…"

Qui Gon sighed.

"It's around 5 now. I'll let you rest till double noon. Around six hours of sleep enough?"

"Should be."

"Sleep now young one."

Anakin was out like a light. No need for any sleep suggestions whatsoever. He was just that tired.

"I think I'll inspect his work."

Padmé quirked an eyebrow at him

"You don't trust your technician work?"

"I trust it. But I've known that young man for at least 13 years. I can't help but worry for him every now and then."

"He's like a son to you, like Padawan Kenobi is… isn't he."

"It's hard to not get attached to your Padawan. And when your Padawan has a Initiate clinging onto him like a koaxwa bear youngling, you end up getting attached to the Initiate too."

"Come, we must prepare for our meeting with Watto."

"I'll tell the others not to wake him."

* * *

_Coruscant._

"And release the negativity to the Force…"

Ferus twitched slightly during meditation, struggling to release all the hurt, confusion and resentment to the Force. Master Lǎo Ruì Zhé, who came from a culture of humans that placed their family names first, sighed.

"Padawan… What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"It might well be young one. Your body is going through a period of time when everything you believed is true becomes questionable. It would last until you're well into your early 20's. Hormones are to be feared young one. Which is why we generally encourage separation between the sexes when puberty in any species hits."

"At least my voice broke early… And I'm not short like Skywalker is…"

"Careful young one, the future is always in motion."

"And yet my future is still clouded. And yet the Council is still wary of me!"

"You haven't proved otherwise Chosen One."

The sound of his unwanted title pushed him back into the role of the model Jedi.

"Yes Master. I understand."

Thinking to himself privately

[Actually, I don't.]

* * *

_A Suite in Mon Espa – Tatooine__._

"Anakin, Ani? Wake up, its double noon now."

"Padmé?"

Anakin groaned as he sat up, shifting his limbs and popping a few of his joints. When the appropriate cracks had been heard, he stood up.

"We're going to see Watto now aren't we?"

"Yup."

"Does Master Jinn have a holo of our ship?"

"Yes?"

"Something tells me we're going to need it. Come on, I've got to tell Master Jinn. Our ship may be the tipping point for Watto."

* * *

_Outside the Suite in Mon Epsa – Tatooine._

"What if Anakin's plan fails Master? We could be stuck here for a very long time."

"We don't have much of a choice Obi-Wan,"

Qui Gon again wishing that the training bond wasn't beginning to fracture so that he could transmit the message directly instead of having to rely on comlinks.

"It's too dangerous to call for help and a ship without a power supply, or a hyperdrive isn't going to get us anywhere."

"Can't we ask Anakin to make the engines extremely fuel efficient?"

Anakin walked out, and heard Obi-Wan's comment.

"Already done that Obs. Why do you think the ship's support system is still running, protecting you from this desert? I swear if there is a bright centre in the universe, this planet is the furthest away from it…"

"And yet, you love it."

"Family's here. It's home."

"Only you Anakin… Only you."

Shmi joined them outside

"Are you ready to make the trip to Watto's then?"

"As ready as we'll ever be."

* * *

_Onboard the Royal Nubian Starcruiser – Tatooine._

Sabé made the switch again. So he was older than her by a good decade, but she felt comfortable around him… And she wanted to stretch her legs again. Versé had generously offered to take up decoy duty for the next hour, and since the Padawan seemed to have a direct line to the action in Mon Espa, she was going to find out what happened.

Obi-Wan looked at her puzzled.

[Anakin, I've got to go, Sabé – one of the Handmaiden's is coming up to me.]

[Oooh! She's Padmé's best friend. If she's anything like Padmé is, then she'll be curious about what's happening over here.]

[Doesn't your Handmaiden update the Queen about things?]

[She's not mine. And she does, but I suspect it's not exactly a complete picture…]

[So barebone facts?]

[No meat whatsoever.]

"So what's happening over there?"

"Master Jinn and Anakin just bartered our ship in a podrace."

"They what?"

"Watto – the dealer – wouldn't co-operate otherwise… It was the ship or this ridiculous idea Ani had about bartering his own freedom."

"He wouldn't dare."

"Fatal flaw of Anakin Skywalker, if you can convince him that what he's doing will protect others and help them, he doesn't actually think of his own well being."

"That's what you're for aren't you? You're the one that acts as his voice of moderation. And he acts as your voice of impulse… You could've been a great team."

"Now we'll never know."

"Can't you make a request to train him after you are knighted?"

"The Council will tell me that he's too old."

"Didn't you tell me he was a prank master?"

"Yes?"

"Won't he have some blackmail?"

Obi-Wan paused and smirked at her.

"You might have something right there."

* * *

_Outside the Suite in Mon Espa – Tatooine._

"Doing last minute tune ups?"

"Yup."

Anakin said as he jumped out the silver-coloured pod.

"I know it will work, but the power source has gone faulty…"

"Use this one young one."

Anakin absently reached out with the Force and grabbed the power source Qui Gon threw over from where it came flying through the air, hands busily removing the old one to put in the replacement Qui Gon found. Padmé looked up over at where Jar Jar was curiously examining the outer components of the pod. As he looked at what appeared to be a constant stream of electricity he spotted a small device he'd seen Padmé, and Qui Gon used quite often bending to pick it up he said

"Padmay, yousa dropped tis…"

And came right back up into the electric stream. Immediately he began shaking as the electric impulse coursed through his body, before being launched backwards into an upright position. Anakin's and Padmé's eyes widened simultaneously as they dashed to help their Gungan friend.

"Sorry Jar Jar, guess I should have told you about the power-coupling… Anything numb?"

"MAH TUN!"

"Your tongue huh?"

"Thanks for the update Captain Obvious. I need to take him back in for treatment. And anyways, sun went down couple of hours back. You sure you don't want to come in now? You did say that you need to get up bright and early for tomorrow's race…"

"Yeah, in a minute. By the way, I need to speak to Master Jinn…"

She looked at him

"Is this Jedi-only or can it include me."

Anakin grimaced

"Jedi-only. I've been speaking to Obi-Wan about this via our 'brother-bond', but I need to talk to Master Jinn about this."

"Urgh. Fine then. Fill me in as soon as you can?"

"Sure."

Padmé escorted the numbed Gungan into the apartment while Anakin dove back into his tweaking for race day. Just after he finished his last modification and was finally satisfied with the state of the pod he sighed

"Padmé told me you wanted to speak?"

Anakin shot up quickly, forgetting that he was, in fact still under the engine units. Qui Gon heard a loud thud and a groan of pain as Anakin pushed himself out of there.

"Wrong timing huh, young one."

"Or very right timing there, Master Jinn."

"Padmé said you wanted to talk?"

"Just a question. Did you feel that disturbance in the Force? Kind of like a cloying, suffocating feeling? Almost like you're underwater with a breath mask but you know the air's limited and you have to save it while you're trying to surface slowly because you're in too deep?"

"I felt a disturbance."

"So did Obi-Wan, only thing he said it felt darker. Like how your Force presence felt for a flicker when…"

"…I lost Tahl."

"It's unnerving."

"It's the Dark side Anakin. Be on your guard. It's not a matter of 'might be', we are now running out of time."

* * *

_The Boonta Eve Classic Race Track – Tatooine._

"…And here's your champion! Sebulba!"

The Dug waved cockily to his roaring friends as Anakin rolled his eyes while manoeuvring his pod into position behind the starting line in the amphitheatre-like beginning and ending points of the race.

"…And coming up here is a newcomer to our fair track, a total unknown… A human! Look everyone, the Republic entry is a human!"

Anakin raised an eyebrow at the shocked viewers. Inwardly smirking to himself. The Force would guide him, he could just feel it gathering around him, sensing his motives and approving of it – empowering him to do something he knew he couldn't do on his own. His mother walked over to him, kneeling on one knee

"I've just found you. Be safe, I don't want to lose you."

"I will Mum, I promise; besides – the Force is with me."

Anakin let his Force-awareness fill his being, stretching out into his surrounding area he sensed the Dug trying to make his way over to sabotage his ship. Putting on a burst of Force-speed he appeared in front of the would-be cheater. Speaking in Huttese

"Sebulba, right? I wouldn't do that if I were you. See, I'm a mechanic. I can prove my ship was tampered with if you do anything. Produce some pretty incriminating evidence too. I'm sure the Republic would love to know that the Jedi have taken a part-time slave-capturer, part-time racer into custody. Just need you to get into the Middle Rim…"

The Dug hissed at him

"You'll never make it to the finish line outlander. You'll be bantha fodder."

Anakin sighed, Obi-Wan's advice echoing inside his head.

[I'm getting worked up. But Obi-Wan said that although emotions can be a good thing – it would be hypocritical if he said otherwise, especially after Melina/Daan… I hated him like that. Sometimes it can cloud your judgement and a clear head is better for the time being. I need to focus on the Force for this race.]

He let go of the rage and faced the Dug, who was trying to move a component out of place and stopped him with the Force. Unable to stop himself from just one jab

"Maybe so. I'll see you at the finish line slime ball"

The Dug stalked off as Anakin quickly fixed the damage.

"Need a hand to get into the pod?"

Qui Gon smiled at him, Anakin turned to him sheepishly

"I wish my growth spurt would just come already, I think I look like a 9 year old at times."

"Well… ooofh! You're as heavy as any other 14 year old Jedi…"

"Ha ha. Just hope that means puberty would just hurry up and get me over with."

"Your voice is past the squeaky then deep phase though. You wouldn't speak for a week. I believe you got Obi-wan to act as your mouth piece the entire time…"

"I was 12!"

They both chuckled.

"Remember your training young Skywalker."

"Initiate's or Obi-Wan's?"

"What about Master Yaddle?"

"She only really taught me 2 things. The 1st being moving meditation. The 2nd… Well. I'm not quite sure how that's going to be useful."

"Obi-Wan's training then. Rely on your instincts. A Jedi's instincts…"

"…Are rarely wrong. Yeah, he taught me that."

Qui Gon smiled again at the blue-eyed youth. It was so easy to forget that he was 14 at times.

"May the Force be with you, Jedi Anakin Skywalker."

"May it be with us all Master Qui Gon Jinn."

Anakin nodded firmly at the Jedi Master as he walked away and focused on the Force as the countdown began after Jabba the Hutt opened the race. And suddenly, they were off.

There was no time for real thoughts. Just adrenaline and flight.

[Right.

Left.

Avoid the squealing, skidding racer.

Love to help… No, mission – go!

Around.

Up – over. Twist there!

Duck – dive. Hold the fall.

Single file… Sithspit!

Climb. Can't lose our ship.

Through tunnel. Avoid stalactites and stalagmites.

Push the engines. Don't let blown up pod plus racer – Force lay you at rest – incinerate you.

Mum said something about the tribes helping us out…

There. Non-lethal shots to those engines. Slowing them to a standstill… nice.

Passing them, lap. Okay. One down.

Swerve.

Now!

Power cord's come loose…]

Anakin reached out with the Force, keeping his eyes on the track and connected the loose cable back to his pod.

[Okay.

Through tunnel again.

Steep climb.

Now dive!

Yes overtaken Sebulba! He is the lead – was right?

Got to hold lead.

Sith! He's overtaken me!

Finish line in a bit.

Okay, 3…2…1…]

Anakin gunned his engines pushing everything they had into the race and released his control over his body. If it was the will of the Force they would win.

* * *

_Onboard the Nubian Starcruiser – Tatooine._

"And that's the last repair."

Obi-Wan felt his brother's lingering sadness.

"You wish you could spend more time with her."

"I do. But someone had to come back with the new supplies, and it had to be me. I'm the only one that can get this ship…"

"Anyone could have repaired it."

"But only I can get it purring like a satisfied nexu and you know it. Statement. Not boast."

"True. But did you have to bring that protocol droid with you?"

"Mum and Cliegg don't really know what to do with 'Threepio'… or their share of the prize money, actually I think they do. Distributing it evenly by buying appropriate supplies needed for the Tribes is good."

"You'll miss them."

"I'm a Serviceman, not a Padawan and definitely not a Knight or a Master. I'm not even technically supposed to be with you – still wondering why Master Yoda sent me with you. I suppose he might have seen the pilot thing but…"

"You're the best pilot the Temple had ever seen Ani. I've seen enough of your simulations and training flights back when you were an Initiate to confirm that. Still worried?"

"Yeah, that Darkness?"

"It's getting closer."

"We're running out of time… and Master Jinn and Padmé are still with Mum and Cliegg!"

* * *

**AN**: Tell me what you think! Please? By the way... Koaxwa bear? I couldn't find a equivalent, so just think a Star Wars creature with the behaviours and mannerisms of a Koala... :D


	8. Chapter 8: From Tatooine to Coruscant

**AN**: Chapter 8. And the action is picking up. And Anakin struggle again with his temper - something we will see again and again. But since you-know-who has been practically focusing solely on Ferus from infancy, he has become a little tunnel-visioned so to speak. That, and the fact they started shielding, will be the only reasons I give for someone overlooking readily exploitable qualities - all because he's playing the long game.

Cheers,

Eastonia

* * *

Chapter 8: From Tatooine to Coruscant.

_The Outskirts of Mon Epsa – Tatooine._

Padmé and Qui Gon walked back into the desert in silent contemplation. They had won the race and their bets but Anakin had to leave his family behind just as soon as he had found them.

"Master Jinn?"

"Yes Padmé?"

"Will Anakin ever get to see his family again?"

"… He is a Serviceman, Padmé. His job would keep him stationed on Coruscant."

"What about this mission then? Obviously Master Yoda saw _something_…"

"He might have seen that we needed a pilot of Anakin's calibre. Anakin was the best pilot the Temple had ever seen."

Padmé sighed and continued walking. The Master Jedi at her side. Then the comlink buzzed

"Master?"

"Yes Obi-Wan?"

"How far are you from the ship? Anakin and I sense the Darkness getting closer."

"About 10 minutes away."

"Master Jinn?"

"Yes Anakin?"

"Send Padmé forward first, and keep your lightsaber at the ready. Obs and I sense that it's approaching… fast."

"Padmé, you heard them – go!"

Padmé dashed off in the direction of the ship, hauling herself onboard as Qui Gon released his lightsaber from his belt and spread his awareness.

* * *

_Onboard the Royal Nubian Starcruiser – Tatooine._

"Com'on Obs. You can do this!"

"I don't get why you're teaching me this."

"Neither did I when Master Yaddle taught me. But now I know…"

"Force! This is weird – usually I'm the one teaching you."

"Focus Obs. Keep yourself aware but give yourself over to the will of the Force."

Obi-Wan sighed and tried again. And this time he felt it – it was like a spark inside of his being that expanded outwards – turning him into a star.

"Ani. What was that?"

"1 of the 2 things Master Yaddle taught me. Force light. It can combat the Dark. Never got why she taught that to me…"

Padmé rushed in

"Master Jinn and some Zabrak with too many facial tattoos are fighting!"

The brothers looked at each other and rushed into the cockpit as the ship took off, Padmé hot on their heels. A single glance in a direction and Obi-Wan dashed out to the landing ramp. Saying as he went

"I think I get why Master Yaddle taught you that Ani!"

Anakin pointed out the flashes of green and red.

"There. Fly low."

Meanwhile Obi-Wan concentrated on the Force light technique Anakin showed him suddenly while Master Jinn and the Handmaiden were on the way back to the ship. He remembered how Anakin suddenly sat him down and said that he had to show him something.

He sensed the Dark presence combating his Master and sent out a tendril of the Light that surrounded himself to provide a distraction.

[As I rest in the Light side, the Light shall rest in me. A spark of light is all it takes to lift the darkness away.]

He meditated as Anakin's recollections of Master Yaddle's teachings echoed in his mind.

And Qui Gon was finally able to find a hole in the defence of the… whatever it was. He – from what he could tell from the physic anyway – pulsed with the Dark side. Only the tiny, but sharp burst of light in that gave him the time needed to thrust the other's lightsaber out into the sand and use the Force to jump into the ship.

"Master!"

He crashed into his meditating Padawan. And the cockpit opened to reveal a worried Anakin running over to him.

"Are you alright?"

He asked as his Padawan recovered himself, moving into a one-knee-on-ground kneeling position.

"I think so."

"What was it?"

"I'm not sure. But it was well trained in the Jedi Arts…"

"Only – Dark. Right?"

Anakin asked him worriedly as Obi-Wan nodded.

"I sensed that too Master."

"Right. My guess is: he was after the Queen."

Anakin stood up and paced.

"What are we going to do about it? I mean, I know we should inform the council, but what should we do specifically?"

"We should be patient. Now Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi – what were you up to?"

Anakin and Obi-Wan looked at each other sheepishly

"Master Yaddle's only other lesson she taught me. Force light."

"He taught me just now."

"Just now?"

"If it is the will of the Force, in times of desperation the Force will aid you, no matter how delicate your knowledge of the subject is."

Obi-Wan smirked at Anakin as he replied, who snickered – Qui Gon noted it as an inside joke and shook his head

"You can't do much Anakin. You're not…"

"A certified Padawan, Knight or Master. I know. I get it. But that doesn't mean I can't help. Master Yoda had me join you for a _reason_…"

"And not because you've helped Obi-Wan out now and then during your Initiate years?"

"No. I don't know how to say this Master Jinn, but I feel like it is the will of the Force that I'm here. Helping you. Helping the Naboo… I'm sticking this one out till the end. You can't get rid of me that easy."

Qui Gon smiled at them.

"I know. I know."

* * *

_Night time – Onboard the Royal Nubian Starcruiser – Space._

"There."

Anakin said to himself as he strung the finished snippet of Japor onto a leather tong. He placed it in one of his pockets and relaxed. Then the doors to the turbo-lift opened and revealed Padmé in her orange and yellow Handmaiden clothing, she spotted him, sat down next to him and sighed

"I'm worried about my people. According to Governor Bibble they're suffering… dying…"

"Sorry if this sounds crass, but we've only been gone for a week tops. Even if there was a food shortage people can always survive on what they've got right now. Don't you people have market days?"

"Yes?"

"Then trust that they have had enough food for this past week at least. Anyways, if people were dying at a catastrophic rate then every Jedi Watchman in your system would have sensed it and reported it to Master Jinn, since you are under his protective custody. Trust in the Force."

"It's hard to."

They sat in silence for a bit

"How are you holding up by the way, it's not easy leaving your family behind."

"I'll get over it eventually – besides the Force is giving me the impression that we are going to meet again one day."

"You have an amazing faith in the Force."

"It's hard not to when you're raised all your life experiencing it on a day to day basis."

"Hey, I sense you're gonna need this."

He handed over the snippet, telling her of what happened earlier in their adventure when the pilot negated their jinx.

"So you're giving it to me?"

"Yup. And it's extra lucky because of the sand symbols my Mum taught me. Protection…"

He said tracing the stained carving of swirls, waves and squares

"…and good fortune. And a souvenir of sort – to remember me by."

"Why wouldn't I remember you Ani?"

"I'm a Serviceman, not likely you're going to see me again."

Padmé closed her hand around the smooth ivory wood.

"Alright. Thank you."

"About the Senate…"

"Yes?"

"I had this dream, you led an army into the darkness… After calling for a vote of no-confidence. It felt dangerous."

"Dreams pass Ani."

"Dreams of a Jedi, Serviceman or not – no matter what the Council says, are often not dreams at all – rather they are memories or visions. All I'm saying is to be wary. Trust no one who didn't arrive on this ship with us."

* * *

_Coruscant._

"Coruscant."

Padmé and Sabé had no time to switch places back to their proper stations. The disguised Queen and her attendants looked out the window in the stark white Royal cabin, anxious to see the planet. Obi-Wan and Anakin had joined them and were acting the part of tour guide.

"The entire planet is just one humungous city. And look! Over there Senator Palpatine is waiting for us on the landing platform."

Anakin shivered as he said that.

"I don't trust the guy."

Obi-Wan looked at him

"Neither do I, but can we do about it? Prepare for landing!"

The hustle and bustle of disembarking commenced as Anakin followed Qui Gon and Obi-Wan out onto the deck. 3 familiar faces greeted him as the three of them bowed.

"Supreme Chancellor Valorum. Senator Palpatine… Padawan Olin what are you doing here?"

Anakin's eyes widened as he shot up from his bow.

"Olin? What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing Skywalker."

"You first, I believe since I asked first…"

"I was invited to greet the Queen with the good Senator."

Anakin eyed the Senator suspiciously but discretely. He fought with himself to maintain a level tone and the 'Jedi mask'. Ferus, with all of his adherence to the Code and I'm-so-calm-and-responsible attitude, annoyed him. He couldn't figure out why he needed to be perfect all the time. Honestly he felt that if he broke some rules once in a while, everyone else would be a whole lot friendlier to him – Chosen One or not, because he seemed more mortal. Inwardly struggling he replied

"Master Yoda sent me as technical backup."

"Yeah, right. More like you snuck onboard and when Master Jinn found you Master Yoda told him to not bother sending you back and told him to keep you onboard as technical support until you get back here for your punishment."

"I don't lie."

"But you and Obi-Wan do the same thing. Tell truth from a certain perspective. Isn't that still a lie? Or will you say that truth is a matter of perspective? Doesn't surprise me if you did. Obi-Wan and you are cut from the same cloth after all."

Anakin fought again with his temper. Struggling to release it to the Force before he lost control entirely. Qui Gon intervened and stepped in between the feuding age-mates.

"Now young ones. Be still."

The brunette and the dirty blonde glared at each other, before falling into formation yet again, realising that they had missed most of the exchange between the Ruler of the Naboo, their Senator and the Chancellor. Anakin took deep breaths, finally able to release his anger, and saw the subtle movements of Padmé, who stood beside her decoy in her Handmaiden robes – clearly, to anyone who noticed, messaging her. He raised an eyebrow at her and she shrugged and winked, a quiet snap of her wrist revealing the snippet he carved adorning it.

He smiled inwardly, remembering to keep the 'Jedi mask' on – not letting anything slip to Palpatine was important. He knew that. But he didn't actually know why. From what he could tell there was the usual minimal non-Force sensitive presence about him but the Force was again practically screaming at him:

_*BE DISCREET!*_

And since he didn't want a blistering migraine like he nearly got the last time, he was. Obi-Wan had noticed his behaviour and followed his example – some of the warnings the Force was sending him had leaked over their 'brother-bond'. He could tell. Qui Gon was finishing up the report to the Supreme Chancellor

"I must speak to the Jedi Council immediately. The situation has grown much more complicated…"

Anakin signalled Qui Gon that he would be a moment, as the Jedi Master nodded he pulled the Padawan over to Padmé.

"Padmé."

She turned around and gave an indicator to make the exchange quick. Her party was continuing on at a relatively slow pace, but Coruscant was huge – she didn't want to get lost. She could see the Senator and Padawan Olin trying to hurry her along and all Anakin did was hold out a scrap of paper with numbers written on them, Padawan Kenobi at his side. He smiled sheepishly

"If you ever need a blaster-toting, Jedi mechanic with questionable contacts… Here. My comlink frequency. Just in case, even if we can't meet again, I can direct some help your way."

"Questionable?"

Obi-Wan smirked at her – he could see why his little brother liked her – and answered for him; mentally recalling the various scrapes they got into all around Coruscant only a few years ago, with tourists and residents of the planet alike. The young Skywalker did have a network that spread throughout the galaxy, even if he didn't actually have an Outer Rim contact till a few days ago...

"Several. I know. I was there when he gained them."

Padmé grinned good naturedly.

"Well, I'm sure the Naboo could always use a blaster-toting, Jedi mechanic with questionable contacts on their side. And I'm sure the Council wouldn't mind us keeping an eye out for things either."

"Please."

The 3 grinned at each other and she broke away, hurrying after the Nabooan court to the Senate. To meet her destiny. Nodding to himself, Anakin and Obi-Wan turned and walked back towards Qui Gon. As a group, they loaded themselves into a ship

"The Council is not going to like what we have got to tell them."

"The Council never likes what we have to tell them. You and I? We're trouble. Master and I? We're trouble. All 3 of us reporting the same thing? We're trouble times 3."

As they disembarked and walked towards the Temple Anakin narrowed his eyes at him, sending his thoughts along their bond

[I think the Sith are back.]

[I want to believe that they are just a fairy tale to keep crèche-members in line. But…]

[We know what we felt. And Master Jinn can back us up on that.]

[Sometimes I wish Master Jinn wasn't the sole expert on the Living Force in Coruscant. And he barely knows much!]

[You think the Living Force is the key? What about the Unifying Force, you've always been sceptical about the Living Force. It's just weird hearing you talk about it.]

[And you've always been preaching to me about the Living Force… Great. If Master Jinn isn't ready to get rid of me, we've got to get to Corellia.]

[The Archives do indicate the Corellian Jedi are more aware of it… I'll request a transfer to Corellia when we meet with the Council. So if you can't go, I'll go and send you what I've learnt.]

[Do you think the Council will let you? I mean they have gone through a lot to keep you here on Coruscant.]

[Well, we've just got to find out then.]

The 3 Jedi stopped and looked up at the familiar walls. Anakin smiled wearily

"We're back."

* * *

**AN**: Again, please tell me what you think! :D Yes I am setting something up for later. This is an AU...


	9. Chapter 9: The Senate and the Council

**AN**: The shortest chapter I have written so far in this story :S. It pretty much keeps to the movie. A dismissal, a vote and a rejection. And Obi-Wan's conflicting emotions due to his Master :).

Cheers,

Eastonia

* * *

Chapter 9: The Senate and the Council.

_The Jedi Temple – Coruscant._

Somehow, it felt wrong to Anakin. He knew these halls. Lived in them. Laughed in them. Cried in them too. All the same they felt different. Which was strange because, that had never happened before. Not even after joining Obi-Wan occasionally on his missions.

It was like, in the week he was gone, the whole Temple decided to repaint the place a fractionally different colour. Or shift all the furniture and adornments a centimetre to the left. Unnoticeable, but there all the same.

The entire Temple was different, and what scared Anakin the most was the fact that maybe it was not the Temple that was different. Maybe he was.

Obi-Wan saw Anakin's slight discomfort and placed a hand on his shoulder, squeezing it slightly as he sent a thought along their bond

[It's always hard after your first mission.]

[Never felt like this after one of yours.]

[Because they were never yours to begin with. You always knew that it wasn't really up to you to make the mission succeed.]

[But this time it was. This time, I was assigned to a mission. This time…]

[Anakin…]

[This time, I came back – changed. I don't want to admit it really. But it's true isn't it? I've never put my life on the line before.]

[I heard. You nearly bet your freedom on getting our parts…]

[It was that or the suffering of the Naboo.]

[You learnt to place duty before your own needs... Anakin, eventually you'll learn – no matter how much you change, there will always be a place for you within the Temple walls. And when that lesson sinks in, you will feel comfortable here once again. It's something every Padawan goes through.]

[Not mechanics. Not Jedi Servicemen.]

[I stand by my first belief.]

[What is that?]

[You were never meant to be just a mechanic.]

They were now in the turbo-lift with Qui Gon. Breathing out, Anakin nodded tightly at Obi-Wan

[Thank you for believing that.]

Anakin's expression was unsure. And since Obi-Wan knew that his brother did tend to wear his heart on his sleeve, he knew that Anakin did not quite believe him. Then the turbo-lift doors opened, and as one the 3 troublemakers of the Jedi Temple strode into the Council-chambers.

* * *

_500 Republica – Coruscant._

Padmé and Sabé had finally been able to switch back to their proper stations during the change from the black dress to the white kimono. Anakin's warnings echoed about her mind as she listened to her Senator as he paced slowly to and fro. Still, she had to remember to keep herself detached from the news he was raining down on her and to remain diplomatic – to keep the Royal mask and monotone on.

"…The Republic is not what it once was. The Senate is full of – greedy, squabbling delegates. There is no interest in the common good. I must be frank Your Majesty, there is little chance the Senate will act on the invasion."

"Chancellor Valorum seems to think there is hope."

Padmé, drew her mental shields up. Ever since Anakin revealed that her mere Force presence might give her away during the use of her decoys, she had asked Obi-Wan (who still didn't know she was the Queen) and Anakin to help them in the uses of mental shielding. Maybe it was Anakin's suspicion of Palpatine bleeding over, but she couldn't help but be slightly wary. She feared for her people, and she was wary of her allies – she felt like she was being torn in two.

"If I may say so Your Majesty, the Chancellor has little real power – he is mired by baseless accusations of corruption. The bureaucrats are in charge now…"

"What options have we?"

"Our best choice would be to push for the election of a stronger Supreme Chancellor, one who could control the bureaucrats – and give us justice. You…could…call for a vote of no-confidence in Chancellor Valorum."

Padmé was suddenly hit by the memory of Anakin's dream-vision, she inclined her head away from her Senator.

[The army I lead into darkness… could it be the Republic? Could the vote of no-confidence do that? Need to remain diplomatic.]

"But he has been our strongest supporter!"

"If I may, Your Majesty."

Ferus Olin, forgotten till then spoke up. Padmé nodded, giving him her permission to speak

"Senator Palpatine speaks the truth. The Senate is wrapped up in so much bureaucratic red tape that I'm surprised that anything actually gets done around here."

"What would you know of it Padawan Olin?"

Palpatine strode over to the youth.

"He's one of the few Jedi trusted to expand their knowledge of the political system."

She looked at the youth again, silently asking him to continue

"Your other option is to leave it to the Courts."

"But they take even longer than the Senate to come to a decision. Our people are dying, Senator. Padawan. As much as I want to rely on democracy, we must do something quickly."

"To be realistic Your Majesty, I'm afraid the Naboo might have to accept Federation control for the time being."

"That is something we cannot do."

It pained her to say this, but she could not see any other way of working things out. The vote of no-confidence still made her wary, but hearing Padawan Olin's confirmation of the report Senator Palpatine gave made her frightened. She wanted to trust Anakin's vision but, she was not a Jedi. She couldn't fully trust that his vision might come true. But there was one thing she could alter about it.

"I am still young, Senator. I will wait upon your judgement concerning the Senate."

* * *

_The Jedi Council Chambers – Coruscant._

Qui Gon met each Council members eye around the room. Anakin and Obi-Wan flanked him as they stood in the centre of the windowed room.

"…He was trained in the Jedi Arts. My only conclusion was that it was – a Sith Lord."

"Impossible!"

Master Ki-Adi-Mundi cried, looking at his fellow Council members

"The Sith have been extinct for a Millenium."

Master Mace met the Grandmaster's eye

"I do not believe the Sith could have returned without us knowing."

"Ah! Hard to see the Dark side is."

Yoda disagreed and Mace nodded

"We will use all of our resources to unravel this mystery. We will discover the identity of your attacker."

Anakin spoke up

"How hard is it to believe that we were attacked by a Sith Lord? Master Jinn, Padawan Kenobi and I all could sense the Darkside around this being."

"Is there something that we are missing Serviceman Skywalker?"

Mace leaned forward in his chair, and raises an eyebrow

"What Serviceman Skywalker meant to say is – all three of us could clearly feel a high concentration of the Darkside around this Zabrak. When we placed those facts together along with the red lightsaber blade, it was the only conclusion we could draw."

Said Obi-Wan, casting a look at his brother to be silent for a while. Anakin nodded gravely.

[There's a time for everything Ani.]

[And they're less likely to listen to me anyway. I'm younger, less experienced and not to mention…]

[Not the Corps thing again…]

[No. I wasn't going to say that. Really! I was going to say: not to mention it's hard to take someone who looks like a 9 year old seriously. Especially if said 9 year old lookalike voice had already broke. I'm actually wondering how they are not amused right now.]

[Severely off track Ani. Severely off track.]

The Grandmaster once again spoke up,

"Keep an open mind we must… Master Qui Gon. More to say have you?"

"With your permission my Master, I believe my Padawan is ready to take his trails."

Obi-Wan and Anakin froze.

"Ready is he say you?"

"I believe so. I don't presume…"

[In other words when can I take on the Chosen One?]

[Obs, you know it's not like that.]

[Hurts all the same.]

"But you do. Revealed your opinion is. Anxious to take on the Chosen One you are."

"Masters, my Padawan, the Serviceman and I have all sensed this shift in the Force…"

"Sensed a shift we did in the year Serviceman Anakin was born."

"And another 5 years later…"

Mused another Council member.

"I believe that Padawan Olin should start his training under me. I sense the Living Force would be an important key…"

"Consider it we shall."

"May the Force be with you Masters."

The 3 troublemakers of the Temple left the room.

* * *

_The Senate – Coruscant._

"The Chair recognises the Senator from the sovereign system of Naboo."

"Supreme Chancellor, Delegates of the Senate. A tragedy has occurred. It started right here with the taxation of the trade routes and now engulfed our entire planet in the oppression of the Trade Federation."

"This is outrageous! I object to the Senators statements!"

Shouted the Representative of the Trade Federation. Padmé just breathed under her various adornments and focused on every scrap of information that came her way. The choice of letting Palpatine speak for her entirely was horrible. But Padawan Olin thought highly of him – even after he had to leave due to being summoned by the Jedi Council. She hoped her three protectors were able to confer what they had found to the Council. From what she learnt from Padawan Olin they were very secure in their beliefs. She stood and moved next to her Senator, standing as a representation of the Naboo as Palpatine introduced her

"…our recently elected Queen has fled here to stand in the stead of our people. She acts as a representation of the suffering of the Naboo. She has spoken to me of the gravest of circumstances, an invasion by the Trade Federation has taken place!"

"We object!"

Palpatine leant over

"Enter the bureaucrats, the true rulers of the Republic… And on the pay roll of the Trade Federation, I might add. This is where Chancellor Valorum's strength will disappear."

The Chancellor's sighed and asked the Nabooan representatives

"Your Majesty, will you allow a commission to travel to your planet to confirm the validity of the accusations?"

"Her Majesty came to resolve the matter now. If this body is not capable of acting on the plight of the innocent – then I suggest new leadership is needed. The Naboo call for a vote of no-confidence in Chancellor Valorum's leadership."

Padmé was shocked. Palpatine actually did it. And she couldn't say a thing about it. She had given him permission to speak on her behalf afterall.

The din that engulfed the Senate was terrifying.

* * *

_The Jedi Council chambers – Coruscant._

Obi-Wan shifted under the gaze of the Council, he had been called back in and had passed a triumphant Ferus on the way there. Master Yoda looked at him

"How feel you?"

"Nervous Master."

"Relax young Padawan. Your trails are not just yet."

"But they are soon."

"Why that say you?"

"Because of Padawan Olin's expression."

"Release your emotion to the Force Padawan Kenobi."

"Told Padawan Olin of a new Master we did. Whom, we said not."

"But isn't Master Jinn going to…"

"Ready, quite yet you are not. Your trails commence after aid of the Naboo will."

"You sense more?"

"Clouded, the Force more has become. But heroes, Naboo will need."

"I understand Master. May the Force be with you all."

"And with you."

Obi-wan walked out of the chambers, upon seeing him, Anakin stood up from the bench where he waited.

"What did they say?"

It was actually a practice they had gotten into – because of the many, many times they had been admonished for sharing Council meeting details due to the open bond. So whenever they were on Coruscant, their mental shielding grew tighter and only consciously reaching for the bond would allow the link to flow.

"I'm not ready… And Master Jinn might be mad at what they have to say about his training of the Chosen One."

"And you weren't mad that…"

"I knew this day would come. It still hurts though."

"I know, it felt like that when I left Tatooine behind."

"Even if it was the furthest planet from the bright centre of the galaxy?"

"My mum, like you and Master Jinn."

"I know."

* * *

**AN**: I think you get the gist of what goes here. :P. Tell me what you think!


	10. Chapter 10: The Return To Naboo

**AN**: I don't pretend to know anything about politics. Let alone Star Wars politics. So forgive me if what I write here does not make sense to you. For those you you who have seen the movies, you'll know that the end is coming soon - for this installment at least.

Cheers,

Eastonia

* * *

Chapter 10: The Return To Naboo.

_500 Republica – Coruscant._

Padmé, still dressed as the Queen, albeit in a black dress to symbolise her grief for her people, looked out over Coruscant. Jar Jar Binks had approached her from behind – she didn't need to be a Jedi to read body language, and as Jar Jar was currently essentially the representative of the Gungan race due to the virtue of his being there, she could pick up the tells in his body language that like her, he feared for Naboo.

"Yousa thinking, yousa people gonna die?"

"I don't know."

"Gungans get pasted too eh?"

"I hope not."

"Gungans not dying without a fight. Wesa warriors. Wesa gotta grand army."

Padmé's eyes widened.

[A grand army? I know negotiations with the Gungans failed before – but, it's our planet. If they could…]

"That's why you no liken us mesa thinks."

Padmé drew up her resolve around her and turned to the native Nabooan.

"Jar Jar, if we can show evidence…"

The doors to her chambers open and Captain Panaka strode in with Senator Palpatine, a grin on both of their faces.

"Your Highness?"

Padmé turned to face them as they bowed.

"Your Highness. Senator Palpatine has been nominated to succeed Valorum as Supreme Chancellor."

"A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one."

She turned to walk a slight ways away from them, breathing to keep her face relaxed and indifferent

[I'm sure it is Palpatine. That was practically the first point you told me during our meeting. I can only hope…]

"Your Majesty, if I'm elected I promise to put an end to the corruption."

She turned sharply back towards the nominee

[Something's fishy here… Anakin was right. I think.]

"Who else has been nominated?"

"Bail Antilles of Alderaan, and Ainlee Teem of Malastare."

"I feel confident that our situation will create a strong sympathy vote for us."

Padmé turned her head away slightly as Palpatine sat

[Sabé has connections to the House of Alderaan. She's told me nothing but good things about Organa and Antilles. Hopefully, since Alderaan is so closely related to the Naboo, the Alderaanian Senator will assume the Chancery.]

"I will be Chancellor."

[And now we see your power play. I should have never said you could speak on my behalf. Keep those kriffing shields up Padmé Amidala Naberrie! So what if he's not Force-senstive, it helps to keep this Force-forsaken royal mask on!]

She looked at the Senator directly

"I fear that by the time you have control of the bureaucrats, Senator. There will be nothing left of our people, our way of life."

"I understand your concern Your Majesty, unfortunately the Federation has possession of our planet."

"Senator, this is your arena. I feel I must return to mine."

She strode out of the chamber, calling up her Handmaidens as she did so. Pausing she turned her head back towards him, looking at him from the corner of her eye as she recalled a certain Serviceman who nearly bet his freedom for her people's. She had enough running.

"I've decided to go back to Naboo."

Palpatine's eyes widened as he stood and hurried over to where she was walking away.

"Go back? But Your Majesty they shall force you to sign the Treaty!"

"I will sign no treaty Senator, my fate will be the same as that of our people."

She replied. Face facing forwards – never breaking once in her stride. Senator Palpatine paused, almost in disbelief she figured. As she passed the Captain of her guard she barked

"Captain! Ready my ship."

The Handmaidens converged on her, blocking Palpatine who had recovered – apparently from his shock.

"Please Your Majesty, I beg you. Stay here, where it's safe."

She discretely palmed a comlink in her hand, a certain frequency already tuned as she finally turned to face the Nabooan Senator.

[Well, looks like I'll be calling you sooner than you think gun-toting, Jedi mechanic. Hope your questionable contacts will help.]

"It is clear to me now that the Republic no longer functions. I pray the new Chancellor, whoever they might be, will bring sanity and compassion back to the Senate."

[That's exactly what you want me to say, isn't it Senator? I have a feeling people like you are the reason politicians are called filthy. But I can't get rid of you. You're too popular.]

She nodded curtly at him

"Thank you for your time Senator, your help has been appreciated."

And swept out of the Nabooan Senatorial quarters. Sabé looked at her and raised a brow, silently mouthing at her

"Switch again?"

"Yes, but let's get to the ship first. Then I have a call to make."

* * *

_The Jedi Council chambers – Coruscant._

Qui Gon, Obi-Wan and Anakin stood again in the centre of the council chambers. Ferus stood with them, a little to the side – as if distancing himself from the maverick Jedi would help.

"The Dark side is growing…"

"Am I to take on Padawan Olin then?"

"No."

"What?"

"To guide the Chosen One, still haven't decided we."

"Masters, if I may be so bold – I was told that Master Lăo was preparing me to be taken on by Master Jinn."

It was subtle, and unnoticeable if you weren't looking at Master Yoda directly and very, very carefully. But Obi-Wan and Anakin would look back at this incident and wonder if Master Yoda knew something that everyone else didn't.

"True that was. Now unsure are we. Clouded your futures are."

Anakin reached mentally over to Obi-Wan

[First Olin and me, then Master Jinn? Is it some kind of epidemic?]

[Anakin. Hardly the time to be joking.]

[I know.]

"Masters, I still feel that Padawan Olin needs to learn of the Living Force."

Qui Gon strode over to where Ferus was and stood behind him, placing his hands on his shoulders and meeting each Council members eye

"I take Ferus Olin,as my Padawan Learner."

"An apprentice you have Qui Gon. Impossible to take on a second one."

"It is against the Code."

"I'm sorry Masters. But the Chosen One needs to learn from me. I can sense that it is the will of the Force. Besides – I've told you already that Obi-Wan is ready for his trials."

Obi-Wan strode next to his Master

"Despite my initial feelings, I do believe that I am."

"He is strong and capable. I believe there is more he could learn of the Living Force but there is little more that he can learn from me."

"Young Olin's fate will be decided later."

Ferus strode forward a little, and bowed respectfully.

"May the Force be with you Masters."

"May the Force be with you Padawan Olin."

He left the chambers. And Anakin, Obi-Wan and Qui Gon made to do the same when they were stopped.

"Stay for a moment."

All 3 turned back to face the Council once again. Master Mace spoke

"The Senate is in the process of voting in a new Supreme Chancellor and Queen Amidala is returning home. Which would put pressure on the Federation and could widen the confrontation."

"And draw out the Queen's attacker…"

Master Ki-Adi-Mundi added, Mace nodded and continued

"You and your Padawan will go with the Queen to Naboo and discover the identity of this dark warrior."

[Why did they ask me to stay if I am not required on this mission?]

Anakin thought to himself as the Grandmaster met his eye

"Young Skywalker, again shall you technical support be."

"This could be the key to unravelling the mystery of the Sith."

"May the Force be with you."

They bowed together and spoke

"And with you, Masters."

Before they turned to leave the Council chambers. Walking silently towards the turbo-lift, all 3 males were lost in contemplation. The 1st wondering why the Council was rejecting him all of a sudden. The 2nd wondering if he was actually ready for the Trials. And the last wondering why he was still assigned to the mission when he was not an actual, true Jedi any longer – unfortunately of the 3, his musings had to be shattered by a beeping comlink.

"Sorry."

He looked at Qui Gon and Obi-Wan sheepishly as they rode down the turbo-lift and checked who was calling before switching the comlink's settings to private and audio-only

"I have to take this… Hello?"

"Ani. I'm headed back to Naboo."

"I heard."

"The Jedi Council told you?"

"Yes."

"Could the Naboo call in a favour?"

"You want to see if one of my contacts can help you."

"Second best thing to actually having you, Padawan Kenobi and Master Jinn with us."

"Changed yet?"

"In the process of."

"I see… Well, instead of a contact – how about the best thing?"

"Wait, the Council…"

"Has assigned all 3 of us back to Naboo."

"See you at the platform then."

"Right."

Obi-Wan smirked at him

"I take it your girlfriend is pretty happy…"

"Oh shush."

* * *

_The Landing Platform of the Royal Nubian Starcruiser – Coruscant._

The Jedi arrived first at the platform, Qui Gon and Obi-Wan immediately went onboard to check on security while Anakin lingered outside for a while, checking on the ship extremities. After hammering out a few problems he went inside to do the same. All the while around the 3 Jedi was the normal hustle and bustle of loading things for travel. A few more checkups on the internal drives of the ship, and Anakin gave his clearance that it was space-worthy. Sighing he walked out of the vessel onto the landing deck, not noticing Padmé as he passed by her. A mischievous smile grew on her face as she snuck up behind him, recalling her vocal lessons to throw her voice to make it sound like it came from elsewhere.

"Anakin!"

The youth in question turned looking from side to side to find the source of her voice.

"Padmé! …Wait a second. Where are you?"

She reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder to turn him around, Obi-Wan coming up behind her, smirking

"Here."

"Had a blonde moment there eh Ani?"

"I'm allowed them from time to time, just like you're allowed ginger moments."

"Ginger?"

Padmé turned and scrutinised the Padawan's hair closely.

"I don't see any ginger."

"Wait till it grows out completely. It goes ginger."

Obi-Wan grinned sheepishly

"It does… By the way Ani, when were you going to tell me that Sabé was Padmé's decoy?"

Anakin and Padmé looked shocked. Once recovered, Padmé turned on Anakin – glaring at him

"Did you tell him?"

"No. I wouldn't betray your trust like that."

"Well how did he find out then?"

"Sabé and Versé switched a couple of times back on Tatooine. I didn't realise it at first, because of my lowered Force-sense. But then I heard someone say 'switch back now'. I did think Sabé was the actual Queen at first, but then I realised that Anakin knew about the swaps during your comlink conversation. On top of that, I didn't actually know Padmé was the Queen, I thought she was one of her decoys – your reactions just proved otherwise."

Anakin groaned and rolled his eyes

"Master Jinn should not have let you spend that season on Corellia with their police force. You got too good at extracting information."

"Information is half the battle of negotiation."

"Padmé, meet The Negotiator."

"Oh ha ha."

Shaking his head Anakin looked about the deck

"I didn't see 'the Queen' coming in. Or the other Handmaidens."

"She sent me ahead."

"I see… Look here she comes!"

Qui Gon escorted the disguised Sabé onboard their ship and all 3 Jedi bowed

"Your Majesty, it is our pleasure to continue to serve and protect you."

"I welcome your help. Senator Palpatine fears that the Federation means to destroy me."

"We assure you that we will not allow that to happen."

As they boarded the ship they heard the cry of an excited Jar Jar Binks

"WESA GOING HOOOMEEE!"

Padmé smiled at that while looking at the two younger Jedi that had somehow become her friends.

"I know how he feels."

Anakin shook his head and popped back out, realising someone was missing from their party

"Come on Artoo. We're gonna need you on this one."

* * *

**AN**: I know, I know... Please look out for any edits I've missed and let me know what you think! :D The below is what I wanted to add but couldn't find a place to.

* * *

**-BONUS (DELETED SCENE)-**

"Padmé. Why the weird and whacky hairstyles?"

"What do you mean 'weird and whacky'? You two should take a look in the mirror someday."

Obi-Wan and Anakin looked at each other

"Standard Jedi Padawan and Mechanic Serviceman cut. Why?"

Obi-Wan finally said, neither of them seeing anything wrong with the way their hair was styled. Sure, Obi-Wan had the weird braid hanging by his right ear and the crew cut with the tiny pony-tail but that was normal. And sure Anakin's hair was short. All mechanic's hair (if they had any) were. It helped them to focus on what they were doing without the trouble of pulling their hair back. But Obi-Wan could see what Padmé meant by ridiculous. Anakin had a crew cut above either ear, but the middle, center and lower portions his hair, including the fringe were noticeably longer compared to the crew cut portions... Like a short, floppy mowhawk.

"Okay, maybe the Padawans and Servicemen do have ridiculous cuts..."

Anakin cut in

"But unlike you... WE HAD NO CHOICE!"


	11. Chapter 11: War Council

**AN**: I probably have one of the weirdest, most frantic writing schedules for this story. Each chapter that comes up? Freshly written the day of posting. It's a challenge of sorts - write at least 2000 words per chapter... I've done that so far :D. This is my first time writing movie-style (interspersed with usual story-style. I don't usually use this much dialogue.)

They're finally going back to Naboo. (Psst for the first time, they remain in one location for the whole time!:P) It's quite fillery. But I think there's some humour, so not a boring chapter - I hope.

Let the fun begin.

Cheers,

Eastonia

* * *

Chapter 11: War Council.

_Onboard the Nubian Royal Starcruiser – Space._

Obi-Wan, Anakin and Padmé gathered in the service area of the ship, pulling Jar Jar along with them. Even with the hyperdrive in top condition, it was still going to take a few hours for them to reach Naboo. Padmé had left Sabé in the guise of the Queen yet again to take her place during the 'war council' between 'the Queen', Captain Panaka and Master Jinn.

Padmé had other plans though. Qui Gon wasn't really that helpful during their time on Tatooine, personally, she felt most of the work had been done by Anakin and the Lars. So Anakin was definitely in. Obi-Wan was smart – for some reason Qui Gon never seemed to suspect that she and the other Handmaidens played the game of 'swap'. On top of that, Anakin had told her of stories of why he nicknamed the Padawan 'The Negotiator'. So he was in too, and Jar Jar told her of a 'grand army' of Gungans.

This was the true war council for the Battle for Naboo. It consisted of: a Padawan, a Serviceman, a Queen in disguise, a clumsy Gungan and an Astromech droid. A mismatched bunch of beings that probably weren't the best for the job, but were going to do it anyway; Padmé could trust them to stand by her. She could trust them to come up with a crazy plan that didn't sound like it would work, but would work anyway. Or at the very least to fly by the seat of their pants and improvise their victory.

Master Jinn told her that the Jedi were not soldiers – only protectors and guardians of the peace. But Anakin and Obi-Wan were more willing to help her. Because in a strange sense, soldiers were guardians of the peace. They fought to end battles and wars, so peace could return and fought to maintain that peace. So in a strange sense, they were soldiers, all of them. Master Jinn didn't seem to understand that, but Obi-Wan and Anakin did – even if it was on a subconscious level. She smirked at the small group. Anakin had sat on the ground, lounging against the wall, as did she. Together they took up the two most comfortable spaces of their little corner. Obi-Wan had settled in what Anakin told her is the basic meditation stance, seated on the floor cross-legged – she was sure she could use his back as a ruler. Jar Jar had braced his arms behind his back and stretched his legs out in front of him while Artoo just beeped and whistled as he rolled around. Anakin had a piece of a device in his hand that he had taken out of his pack, along with a couple of tools. He fiddled with it every now and then, he had told her earlier that he was working on an upgrade for the currently deactivated Threepio. Looking about their corner of the service area she finally spoke

"Welcome to the Council for the Retaking of Naboo."

"I thought that was what 'The Queen', Master Jinn and the captain were attending."

"Nope, Padmé probably wants us to be it. Not them, given how spontaneous we are."

"I blame you for my spontaneity."

"Obs. Back to business, what do you want us to do Padmé?"

Padmé took a look at Jar Jar

"Jar Jar, you said something about a grand Gungan army, and that your people were warriors. You're worried about our planet too. Tell us, how can we create an alliance between the humans and the natives?"

"Good luck with that. This guy has been banished… twice. And the last time, my Master and I had to claim his life-debt to keep him safe."

"You didn't need to hot-wire an enemy ship to get away."

"You didn't need to run from several giant fish."

"Touché."

Padmé rolled her eyes

"Anyways, Jar Jar. What would it take for our people to come to friendly terms?"

"Yousa need to says that yousa people not betta than Gungans."

"I thought that was a given."

"I don't think they quite know it. I mean, when Master Jinn and I were in Otoh Gungah, they regarded us like we thought we were superior to them."

"So humility. Got it. But what about the droids? Even if we were to join forces, the Naboo's token army is very – umm…"

"Okay, so your own army is more of a ceremony thing than a true one right? That could be a problem. But about the droids..."

Anakin paused in the middle of his multi-tasking of fiddling with the upgrade and review of the facts so far, and met Obi-Wan's eyes. Obi-Wan grinned at him

"You want to see if you can get more of them addicted to the EMP don't you?"

Anakin reached over to the centre of their circle where his pack resided, he placed Threepio's upgrade down and rummaged through, pulling out various odds and ends as he went along. Obi-Wan looked at him closely

"Anakin, you don't have any more of those do you?"

"I think the time we used them in the hangar bay was the last ones."

"So what do you have?"

"Obi-Wan's old, mangled breath mask…"

"…I gave that to you in near perfect condition. What happened to it anyway?"

"I think I may have accidentally bashed that… Mini components that Obi-Wan threw away when he made his lightsaber…"

"You scavenged those?"

"Padmé, any bit of tech I get my hands on could prove useful. Now, there's a few wires here…"

Anakin looked over what he pulled out so far, and pulled a out a few blue coloured crystals

"And a few of Obi-Wan's saber-crystal rejects. I could use that for Threepio."

"How much of my cast-offs did you 'rescue'?"

"Oh like you're any better with your tendency to care for 'pathetic life-forms', pretend all you want Obs, but you love rescuing them. Let me salvage the droid and mech parts in peace. You just happen to be the most ready source to salvage from."

Padmé looked at him

"What are you planning for Threepio?"

"A defence mode. I don't know what I'm going to do with him quite yet, but if Artoo can defend himself, so should Threepio."

"I thought Threepio was a protocol droid…"

"I thought you were giving Threepio to me…"

said Obi-Wan and Padmé at the same time. Anakin sighed.

"Yes, he's a protocol droid, but he should be allowed to defend himself. And Padmé, I said that Threepio is yours if I by some miracle become a Padawan – and you agreed to trade Artoo for him."

Artoo whistled and beeped which made one of Anakin's eyebrow rise

"Yes Artoo, I know you don't mind and all…"

Artoo let off another series of beeps and whistles

"No! You're not too spunky, I think you're a awesome droid."

Another segment of binary fired

"Artoo, seriously. It's not that I don't want you, it's more that any hope of me becoming a true Jedi disappeared around a year and 8 months ago."

Binary again fired as the Serviceman and the droid went off topic. Obi-Wan and Padmé glanced at each other

"He actually does understand binary?"

"Past nearly 2 years in the mechanic corps and a talent for it all his life, I think it's a side effect."

"Oh. What's this about no chance of becoming a Padawan? I heard him mention it before."

"He told you of the usual age limit?"

"Yes."

"The Force leads the Master and the Padawan together. No Master, and you can't become a Padawan. Most Masters nowadays are either freshly knighted – and they don't want the duty of taking care of a Padawan or too old, like Padawan Olin's Master Lăo."

"So no one took him on? And anyone who could just didn't want a Padawan? But you were willing to take him on once you were knighted!"

"It's a little different. Anakin is my little brother. We've got into so much trouble together…"

"You and Anakin have got to tell me these stories sometime."

"Aren't we supposed to be discussing how to overcome the droid army?"

"Oops. Anakin! Ship to Anakin, come in Anakin!"

Anakin grimaced

"Sorry Padmé, you've got a headstrong little droid here… Now where was I?"

"EMP?"

"Right. I've got Obs old breath mask, some wires and lightsaber components. I think I can do that."

"You're going to make an EMP out of spare parts?"

"It was that or use things around here to turn this vessel into a giant EMP generator. Have to figure out how to cancel out the effects on the 'cruiser though. Problem is, I make this as long range and as strong as possible, it'll short out after. One use only."

"What about those we used in the hangar?"

"Those can work again, but only for one shot if we're going to short out droids and keep them shorted out. Another problem is getting them."

"Yeah, I spoke to the pilots, Master Jinn has told them to land in the swamps where we met. Closer to where Otoh Gungah is, but it is…"

"On the other kriffing side of the planet."

"Anakin!"

"What? You didn't get given a map unit and told to meet up later in Theed."

"No. I got pulled along through an underwater city, given a sub to pilot through the planet's core and chased by giant fish."

"Would you stop with the giant fish?!"

"I am still traumatised!"

"ORDER!"

"Sorry Padmé."

"Yeah, sorry milady."

"Obi-Wan. I can call you Obi-Wan right?"

She paused and he nodded in permission

"Obi-Wan, please call me Padmé. We're all friends here. And we better get back on topic otherwise we're all bantha fodder."

The atmosphere cooled greatly. Even though they knew this was a war council and they did touch on what they needed to do, they couldn't help but try and distract themselves that, this was it (except for Jar Jar funnily enough, after his piece he seemed to draw back into a shell and sit morosely). When they landed on Naboo, it was going to be war. They might not want to remember that. But they had to. They could not forget.

They sat in silence for a time.

Funny how the ones that are most inclined to settling things diplomatically have to take up blasters, guns and armaments of all kind in the end. Anakin stood, satisfied with the upgrade.

"Alright. I'll get working on an EMP unit, but we'll need more. I'll see what I can do about turning the ships shields into an EMP too, and figure out how to protect this 'cruiser. I'm going to install this into Threepio."

"What is it?"

"Remember you told me about the Destroyers you encountered back on the main Federation ship?"

"Yep."

"I'm giving Threepio one of those, expect with a few mods. One, the shield holds up under high kinetic energy assaults of any type; including a punch, from the outside – but if you were to step into the shield's range and fire from inside, it passes through. The shield extends for a 5 foot radius. It gives room for 2 other fighters to fit comfortably inside. The saber-crystals help with the laser units I've included in the mod."

"What's the use if you don't have…"

"I found coverings. Don't like them, I hate them actually. Makes Threepio look like a rod of gold. But, it's the best I can do."

"Okay. Jar Jar, you are coming with mila… Padmé and I. We need to know everything about Gungan custom. Negotiations are not going to be easy, but we need to do this."

"Agreed Obi-Wan. Anakin are you going to take Artoo with you?"

"Yeah, does he have the specs of Theed? Palace, hangar, town… whole thing?"

"I think so…"

Anakin faced the Astromech as it whistled it's affirmative

"Okay, then I'll find a way for us to take Theed. You guys have sewers?"

"SEWERS?!"

"What? Anakin is right, sewers are the best way of moving people unseen, no one in their right mind goes into sewers. And given most sewers are so large, many people can move through them. Better than air vents."

"But we'll use those too."

The War Council looked at each other.

"This is it."

Anakin smirked and stood.

"Let's go. We've got a planet to save."

* * *

**AN**: Sorry if you expected the battle for Naboo here. But I feel like I've been using the movie a bit too much in the previous chapters so I decided to take a break from that. Tell me what you think and there's a bonus scene showing the adventures of Sabé in the other War Council below.

* * *

**-BONUS-**

Sabé sighed under the guise of her best friend.

The last few hours had consisted of a extremely brief discussion about what they could do. What the Jedi couldn't do. And etcetera.

Then Captain Panaka and Master Jinn got into a fight.

It was amusing at first, the Master Jedi was near to tearing out his hair in frustration because they didn't have specs of Theed. Captain Panaka was practically eating his hat because Master Qui Gon Jinn had no clue how to take out vast amounts of droids without a huge loss of life. And she was tired because she and the captain had to tell the Jedi over and over that the army of the Naboo was a merely a thing of ceremony, a token.

Definitely not for true use of war. She sighed, leant back in the 'throne' and muttered to herself

"I hope Padmé's own Council has been more productive."


	12. Chapter 12: The Battle for Naboo

**AN**: Extra long chappie to make up for the missed update yesterday. (I had the IELTS the day after). Lots of fight scenes. Not sure about them. Hope you like the various plans of this lot. I have no idea how Padmé ended up this sassy. Here's hoping it's a good chapter.

Cheers,

Eastonia

* * *

Chapter 12: The Battle for Naboo.

_Onboard the Nubian Royal Starcruiser._

An hour to arrival in the swamps of Naboo under cloaking and Padmé strode into the service area in her highly starched, stiff battle-dress. Not the most comfortable thing, but the battle-dress was more than uniform. It was armour. Protection. And she would need that if they were to retake Naboo. She could see that Anakin was at previous, checking on Threepio's programming and defence upgrade. He had shed most of the outer layers of his own Mechanic Jedi Serviceman uniform – gearing himself for agility. On top of his pale cream tunic, he holstered 2 blasters at his side and he had placed a couple of leathers on rather crookedly. Now he was currently wrapping a long strip of leather around his right arm in a gauntlet-like manner – rather clumsily in fact – he was right-handed then.

"Stop."

Anakin looked up at her,

"Don't worry, I've got this."

She knelt down – she might still have a foot on him in height, but that didn't mean she rubbed it in very often – and tugged at the leathers, adjusting it to their proper place. Then she unwound the strip of leather adorning his right hand – the left was fine – and rewound it so it fit snugly around his right.

"There."

They were caught in silence for a time. Then he smiled at her, grabbing Obi-Wan's spare utility belt that he had filled with the odd and ends from his pack along with his tools, settling it around his waist.

"You could always come with us you know."

"I know. But half this battle probably is going to be in space. I need to commandeer one of the largest 'cruisers there – preferably a Fed one. And rig it so I can control it remotely."

"Going with the giant EMP grenade then?"

"Yeah… But that means we have to split up. The rest of the party need to go with you. I'll do this alone…"

"Anakin, you might get captured. No backup this time around."

"If I can dodge the Jedi Council and the higher ups during a prank, I can do this."

"I just don't feel comfortable…"

"Join the club Obi-Wan set up then. He worries about me too."

"But it goes both ways, doesn't it."

"Yeah."

"So your plan?"

"I'm going to go ahead of you and see if I can grab the largest ship possible, I'm going to remotely fly it up into orbit and set up a 'doorway' of EMP emissions covering the atmosphere of Naboo and the surrounding area above it – 'doorway' because we can turn it off later."

"You've figured out how to make it continuous?"

"Yeah, as long as they constantly try to send more reinforcements, the pulse signal I'm including in the initial vessel will feed off the power. I don't like the thought that we will be taking lives…"

"But unfortunately, it is necessary."

"Exactly."

He sighed before continuing

"I'm going to have to sneak in and sabotage them from the inside. That's why I had Artoo help me with accessing the planetary computers."

"You hacked them?"

"You helped remember?"

"So that's why you asked me to speak into…"

"Yeah, figured out it was voice activated. Not the most secure thing, you might want to look into iris scanners."

"Will do that."

The ship rumbled from side to side as they landed. Anakin released the service shaft, he would need to leave quickly – he had no time for further explanations if his part of the battle was to succeed. Anyway, he trusted Obi-Wan to tell Master Jinn of what he was doing – since Padmé was to gain the help of the Gungans with Obi-Wan's and Jar Jar's help anyway. He turned, gesturing at Artoo as he did so,

"Come along Artoo."

"Wait."

Anakin turned and Padmé closed the distance between them with a few steps. She leant down and pressed her lips against his cheek.

"For luck."

She whispered

"Force be with you Padmé Amidala Naberrie, Queen of the Naboo."

"And with you Anakin Skywalker of Tatooine,"

Knowing he now claimed the desert world as his home plane. She smirked as she continued

"Jedi Knight."

"Again, only a Serviceman – it would take a miracle for me to become a Padawan, and you need to become a Padawan before you become a Knight."

"Still, I have a feeling that around you, miracles can happen."

Her smile was the last image he saw as he leapt from the ship and headed to the droid base camp.

* * *

_The Swamps of Naboo, Near Otoh Gungah._

Obi-Wan disembarked and looked around, Anakin was nowhere in sight and Padmé had an expression that he had seen too often on his own. He strode over to her.

"He went then?"

"Yeah, said he would rendezvous with us in Theed."

"Alright. Padmé we've got an army to raise and an alliance to forge."

"And sewers to travel through unfortunately?"

"Yup."

They regrouped with the rest of their party and made to carry out the rest of their plans.

* * *

_The Swamps of Naboo, Droid Base Camp._

Artoo had gone on silent mode, and was hovering above the swamp floor as Anakin made his way through the camp stealthily, mentally recalling the format of the base from the last time he was here. This time, he was not there to steal a craft. He was there to stow away. And the biggest flagship he could find was literally in front of him. Pulling out the identity card and white Federation mechanic jacket along with the uniform's cap he snuck onboard to do his alterations.

The inside of the ship was sterile silver and white, combined with the uniform of a Federation mechanic, Anakin supposed he looked a little like a ghost. Slipping into the maintenance area of the ship his eyes widened.

He had hit the jackpot, the flagship he was stowing away on was also – for some reason as he brought up the specs of the ship on the computer in front of him – the only droid manufacturing plant on the planet. The other 2 were still above atmosphere.

Anything happened to this one, and it would take some time for one of the other 2 to enter atmosphere and set up. Luckily, the flagship was supposed to be en route to Theed – to be placed in the hangar. All he now needed to do was set up the connective system for the EMP generators back in the hangar bay (if they hadn't cleaned them up – he hoped not), find a way into the bridge of the ship to somehow rig a 6 pilot vessel all onto a device so that only one person was needed to remotely fly it and set up the feedback loop.

That shouldn't be too hard.

* * *

_The Sacred Place of the Gungans – Naboo._

"That actually, wasn't too hard. I can't believe that it worked."

"With the Force, anything is possible."

"But just getting on our knees and begging."

"Jar Jar did say that it would be the best. Now…"

"Great. The sewers?"

"The sewers. I don't think Captain Panaka and my Master are too happy about being left out of the plan so far."

"Any word from Anakin?"

"He said that TOA in Theed will be in around an hour or 2. He's finished the connectors and is working discretely on the controls now."

"Why do I have a bad feeling about this?"

"Hey! That's my line! Still…"

"I hope he's alright."

"Me too Padmé, me too."

* * *

_Theed Hangar Bay – Naboo._

Anakin had sent Artoo into hiding. He was nearly ready to fix the feedback loop with all the emitters. Although he didn't foresee the spares. The Nubian N-1 Fighters were still in place. Good thing he told Padmé to have them as air forces to aid the Gungans – when the rigged ship got into orbit, they would be useless. The ranged planned for the EMP would only extend to the mesosphere up into orbit. The normal flying range – the stratosphere would remain untouched for the Naboo Air Force.

He activated a holo-remote, taking note of the ship which was lifting off to return to where the Gungan army would be.

"Damn it. Not enough power…"

He looked about the droid infested hangar, then looked down at the 5 left over EMPs in his hand. He had left them short range but they were now set to kill the droids, not stun them. Gazing at his remote, he impulsively linked up the triggers to the jury-rigged holo-remote along with the surrounding camera.

"I really do need more power…"

Then he remembered.

"The main power reactor is that way… And it has a very long drop in the centre of it's room."

A second later he had decided.

"Hang it all, I kriffing need more power to boost the signal of this remote anyway."

He slunk past the droids and made his way into the central power core..

* * *

_Theed – Naboo._

They came up just in front of the palace

"The smell could be better, but – travelling via sewer is surprisingly effective."

"Told you so."

"I still can't believe you, Anakin and Her Majesty over here planned this whole thing out."

"We had Jar Jar with us."

"He did help a lot."

"Even if his advice was: fall on your knees and beg."

"Well it worked."

"Everyone ready?"

The Jedi held up their lightsabers and her guard and pilots held up their blasters – with a few Anakin modifications to them. Sabé smiled at her, still under the guise of the Queen and smirked, echoing the words she said going off planet.

"We are brave Your Highness."

Obi-Wan looked at their party

"Okay. Red group, Blue group, you know what to do. Anakin said he felt a dark presence around the palace, so my Master and I shall handle that…"

"What did he say he was doing?"

Obi-Wan gazed into the distance for a few moments, indicating his 'brother-bond' with Anakin was being used.

"He's trying to connect to a power source to boost his remote's signal right now. He said that it's going to take some time. But he has electronic eyes on the flagship creating the droids for the droid carriers on Naboo and he says he's connected up the Theed Palace also."

"What?"

"Well, he did arrive first, and 1 human is easier to miss than um…"

"Stop! We've got company!"

Blaster fire rang out all around them as Qui Gon and Obi-Wan unleashed their lightsabers on the droids. Deflecting blasts for their charges to return fire. They dashed into the hangar bay, only to be met with a horde of droids.

* * *

_Power Core – Naboo._

"…and YES!"

The sinal was charged and ready to go. A notification popped up on the holo-screen and his eyes widened… He had forgotten about the droids in the hangar.

[ANAKIN!]

[Sorry Obs. Back up in 3…2…1…]

His activated the EMPs in the hangar bay. Through the cameras he could see Padmé heading off with Sabé into the Palace to implement her part of the plan – while the pilots took off to provide Air support for the Gungan army. But Obi-Wan and Master Jinn were only in his electronic sight for a grand total of two seconds as the droid troops in the hangar froze up and stayed that way.

[Thanks… Sithspit.]

[Dark Warrior?]

[Yes.]

[Okay, leaving you to concentrate on the fight, I've finally connected up completely.]

He was vaguely aware of the sound of a lightsaber fight through the various force field like gateways into the chamber where he was siphoning off power for the use of his booster.

"Alright then, show time."

* * *

_Droid Flagship – Naboo._

One support droid noticed the funny behaviour of the ship. They had received the go ahead to release the droid carriers when all of a sudden, the ship took off and headed to space.

"Hey, what's going on?"

"I don't kno…"

And all was silent.

* * *

_Throne Room – Naboo._

Padmé held the Viceroy of the Trade Federation at blaster point. So far, her part of the plan was working brilliantly.

"Now Viceroy,"

She said walking over to the symbol of her elected position and lounging casually on it as Captain Panaka forced the Nute Gunray to sit on the seat opposing hers. She grinned at him; feeling like a smug holo-chess grandmaster that had just beat their most fervent rival.

"We shall discuss a new treaty."

* * *

_Power Core – Naboo._

Anakin could hear the sounds of a lightsaber battle vaguely from where he was. He wanted to look up. He honestly wanted to, but he had a space battle ongoing. Making the EMP a continuous pulse rather than a single explosion was a lot harder than most thought it would be – he actually had to guide the pulse from ship to ship.

And he was quite certain he had almost made the pulse 'jump' to the head flagship of the entire fleet – the one issuing the orders to the troops fighting the Gungans.

If he wanted to prevent slaughter, despite the ships of the blockade being taken out one by one by his device, he would have to crack some Federation eggs. He needed to take out that flagship.

And even the dangerous flashes of red and green couldn't make him shatter his focus – no matter how much he wanted to help Master Jinn and Obi-Wan.

Obi-Wan could feel Anakin in that room that he couldn't enter due to a red force field blocking him from his Master. He wanted to scream at Anakin to do something to help, but he knew – Anakin's part of the plan needed to work to prevent any more needless bloodshed. He had touched the surface of his mind and could sense how close his brother was to taking out the Federation Control. And so he would wait. And watch the flashes of green grow slower against relentless red.

[YES!]

[Anakin?!]

[Taken out Fed Control, now let's get this party started!]

Blasts of blue rained down on Darth Maul as he prepared to end the Master Jedi's life – distracting him. Qui Gon's eyes widened as Anakin rushed in and out of Maul's range. Firing closely and driving him closer to the edge. And then Obi-Wan finally got through.

They attacked in tandem, Anakin serving as backup with his two blasters, when Qui-Gon again faltered.

This time Obi-Wan was recovering from a Force push that knocked the wind out of him.

This time Anakin's blasters were deflected and he had to take cover.

Today was the fall of Master Qui Gon Jinn, and nothing truly could stop that – the Sith's red blade impaled him through his abdomen.

And Anakin could feel the Dark in his brother.

"NOOOO!"

Obi-Wan got his second wind and flew at the Sith Lord, his strikes were wild and uncalculated.

But what scared Anakin the most was the blue-gray irises of his brother were starting to bleed red.

[Obi-Wan! Don't do it!]

[He killed…]

[Do you want Master Jinn to die a second time? Do you want to do that to someone you love? You're falling!]

Anakin scooped up Qui Gon's green lightsaber and reached out with the Force to steady his tormented brother.

[Literally! In both ways!]

He looked into his brother's eyes as blue-gray beat the red back, now reminded of the disappointment his Master would have if he avenged him in cold blood. No vengeance – that was the dark side. But justice? A different story.

[Thanks for the WHOA!]

Obi-Wan back flipped over the Sith, avoiding the blade in a nick of time.

[Can't take him alone!]

A green blade flashed again into existence, for a second Obi-Wan thought his Master had miraculously recovered and was back in the fight, before he realised the height at which the 'saber was now wielded at was much, much lower than usual.

[Then don't!]

[Ani don't be a hero! You haven't used the lightsaber in nearly two years.]

[So? I'm rusty but…]

Obi-Wan finally saw an opening in the Sith's defences – somehow he knew Anakin had a hand in that – and lunged, releasing all his negativity to the Force and the Sith looked at the Padawan and the mechanic.

And toppled down the central shaft – in two pieces.

But Obi-Wan and Anakin could care less. Their 'father-figure' was dying.

Qui Gon had watched the battle. Had watched as his boys beat the darkness back and meted out justice. Had watched as his Padawan became to slay a Sith in millennia. There was a great future ahead for him.

For both of them.

The Force was accepting him into its embrace and in his dying moments he finally could see. He reached up to his Padawan.

"Obi-Wan, promise me… Promise me you'll train the Chosen One."

"Master, I would do anything for you – but I promised Anakin that a long time ago."

Qui Gon smirked

"We were wrong – we were all so wrong… Anakin? Be the best Jedi you can be, Obi-wan will make sure of it."

Anakin's lower lip quivered

"I promise Master Jinn."

"Train him."

"I can't Master – my first Padawan when I make Knight will be Anakin. I've got the blackmail for it."

"That's all I ask… Force! Given as normal a childhood as possible in the Order – to learn of other things. To be born of… Ha!"

"Save your strength Master."

"You're delusional. But you have to recover Master Jinn, Obi-Wan needs you."

The medical team rushed in along with a triumphant Padmé, who stopped at the sight of the mourning males.

"Get him to the med bay as quickly as possible!"

She barked as the Padawan and the Serviceman strained to listen to what they wouldn't know to be the maverick Jedi's last words. The Master's eyes had glazed over as he spoke in a monotone that echoed inwards itself.

"_The shroud falls,_

_The dark calls,_

_A stand must be made._

_Rejection of a brother's hand,_

_And so fades the ring's brand,_

_The true truth will be said._

_The prophecy unfolds,_

_And all foretold –_

_Will come to pass in: Air."_

Unseen to the Jedi, Qui Gon slipped further and further into the Force while his sons grieved.

* * *

**AN**: So Qui Gon now knows. And Master Lăo's prophecy is spoken to Obi-Wan and Anakin... I have plans for the boys :). This is about to get really wild in 'The Shroud', yes a sequel. Tell me what you think about how I blundered this one :D hehe.


	13. Chapter 13: The Shift

**AN**: I think I might have accidentally misled some of you. That wasn't the last chapter. This is. It's been a ride (AND Achievement! First completed story which is over 30k). I will be back.

Cheers,

Eastonia

* * *

Chapter 13: The Shift.

_Theed – Naboo._

Yoda sat alone in contemplation.

Anakin and Obi-Wan had morosely debriefed the entire council on the entire situation and the role they played in retaking the freedom of Naboo. And the Sith they encountered. That point troubled the rest of the Council immensely, as far as they could remember the Rule of 2 was still in place, and judging by the shifts in the Force, the Sith Master was still out there.

Obi-Wan had only killed the apprentice.

But despite this what troubled Yoda was the prophecy relayed from Qui Gon by his 'sons'. It sounded like the last part of the prophecy the fading Master Lăo had told the Force relayed to him…

_'Three men tied by destiny,_

_One is bright for all to see,_

_The others shall be hidden._

_The Guide and the Balancer,_

_Stand together,_

_The third will be outcast._

_A bond will form,_

_To weather the storm,_

_And bridges will be forged to burn.'_

Rather ominous. But it revealed something to Yoda. The 'Balancer' referred to the Chosen One – he knew that. Only the Chosen One could bring balance to the Force. But it also referred to 'one bright for all to see', and the first face that popped up was Ferus Olin's. The Chosen One, or so they all thought.

Olin's mother didn't remember when she got pregnant. And she gave birth on Tatooine just before they headed back to their home planet. That combined with his off the chart midichlorian scale convinced the entire Council that they had the Chosen One within their hands. After all he seemed to fufill the 'Son of the Suns' and 'virgin mother' parts of the prophecy pretty well, especially since her husband and her were newlyweds. But now – the Grandmaster thought – it seemed a little too convenient. After all, which mother can precisely date the day of her conception? And the family wasn't even from Tatooine, they just suddenly found themselves in the middle of the deserts of Tatooine the hour of Olin's birth. Come to think of it, he never fulfilled the 'born of the lowest of the low' part of the prophecy either – his birth family was middle-classed.

Maybe, Ferus Olin wasn't the Chosen One, maybe he was just a decoy – placed there by the Force to protect and shield the true Chosen from dectection. If so, then the real one could be anywhere – maybe even right under their nose!

But the midi-chlorian count said otherwise.

The midi-chlorian count and the Force presence said that the Chosen One was Ferus. With Master Lăo's warning in mind – he knew that he could never tell anyone else of his findings – he had to leave the Chosen in the Guide's hands – where ever 'the Guide' may be. But the Chosen would be with the Guide, he was sure of it. Maybe another Master-Padawan team…

But how would everthing be fulfilled by 'Air'? A 'ring's brand'? The Force was getting harder and harder to understand. At least he knew dark times were ahead. 'The shroud falls' obviously meant that the Dark side was growing – with the permission of the Force. That scared him. Just like how Qui Gon's prophecy scared the rest of the Council.

Master Lăo had warned him to tell Obi-Wan and Anakin to keep the prophecy to themselves, somehow knowing they would have the other half, speaking to him of the panic it would cause. Thankfully the last half sounded more complete than the first, so no one suspected that there was more to it.

There was something he was missing he knew it. It could have been because Qui Gon was the first to join the Force in this time period and Master Lăo would be joining him within the week. But they were connected somehow. But how? It wasn't time of death – he could feel it.

"Master Yoda, you wanted to talk to me?"

The ancient, 2 feet tall being's head shot up at the sound of Obi-Wan's voice. He had been so engrossed in his own thoughts that he hadn't sensed the approach of the 25 year old.

"Right are you,"

"So what is it you wanted to discuss with me?"

"Confer on you the level of Jedi Knight the Council does."

"Without the Trials?"

"Defeating a Sith Lord a Trial is too, shaking off the Dark Side while in sorrow over your Master's death as well is one."

"I wouldn't have been able to do it without Anakin Master."

"Request have you young one."

"I wish to be stationed on Corellia."

"That one not."

"I'm taking Anakin Skywalker as my Padawan learner."

"Not will you. Serviceman Skywalker has had his chance. Passed the time of choosing he has. Failed selection he did."

"The Force leads the Master and the Padawan together. Anakin and I have been able to communicate since he turned 9!"

"Qui Gon's defiance I sense in you, need that you do not…"

"I've got blackmail on all of you."

"Agree with you the Council does."

The Grandmaster switched out his gimer stick for his lightsaber and in one swift movement sliced off Obi-Wan's Padawan braid.

"We dub thee Jedi Knight. Tell him your apprentice Padawan Skywalker is, you should."

Obi-Wan smirked and the doors to the room they were in opened, revealing the mechanic.

"Why don't you tell him yourself?"

"Tell me what Obs? Master Yoda."

"A Padawan learner are you."

"Aren't I too old?"

"Said that about you I did, listen Knight Kenobi did not."

"Hey congrats! You're a Knight!"

"And you're my Padawan."

"Wait. What?"

"Rare it is, convinced us he did. Serviceman no longer you are, trained to be a Knight you will be."

"Corellia?"

"Yup."

"Under the jurisdiction of the Corellian Council you will not be. Answer to the High Council and receive assignments from us you will."

"But we'll stay on Corellia?"

"I sense that's what Master Qui Gon was going to do when he took on Ferus Olin."

"Assigned Knight Siri Tachi to him we did. Leading them together the Force was."

"I thought Padawan Olin would protest more."

"He did – then he met Knight Tachi."

"Make us proud you will, wish Qui Gon were here to see this we all do."

The new Master-Padawan pair grew morose once again. In the whirlwind of promotions – they had managed, with the help of Master Yoda, to distract themselves from the death of their father figure.

"Arriving the new Supreme Chancellor is, greet him you should."

"I don't know Master Yoda, Obs…"

"Respect your Master you should Padawan Skywalker."

"…Sorry, habit –"

"You don't really need to break it."

"Public he does."

" – I have a bad feeling about him."

"The Chancellor he is, do something about it we cannot."

* * *

_The Palace Square of Theed – Naboo._

Padmé tightened her mental shields as the Chancery Starcruiser touched down. Her handmaidens and the newly knighted and apprenticed Jedi stood beside her – on their guard as well. The Council didn't seem to sense anything but they weren't the ones that she trusted with the lives of her people and herself. Anakin and Obi-Wan were – which reminded her, Artoo was Anakin's and Threepio now belonged to her.

The protocol droid with a defence mode certainly gave them the advantage during the reinstallation. The Neimoidians didn't expect a protocol droid to suddenly start firing out of its palms when she said 'now'.

Supreme Chancellor Palpatine walked out of the 'cruiser, a triumphant smile on his face.

[Sithspit! You kriffing used me! What are you going to do now with your new found power now Palpatine? Bet you that you know that even if I'm suspicious of you, the suspicions of 2 Jedi and a girl-Queen is not enough to cause an uproar. Especially without evidence. 3 people, 2 droids and a Gungan might be enough to plan to retake a planet, but to overturn a 'squeaky-clean' politician?]

She breathed out and looked Nute Gunray in the eyes

"Now Viceroy, you are going to go to the Senate and explain all of this. Be glad we aren't calling for more reparations."

Captain Panaka smirked at them defiantly

"This whole system – and quite possibly this whole galaxy – is going to perform a boycott. You can kiss your Trade Franchise goodbye, Viceroy."

"Captain Panaka…"

Padmé said sternly in a reprimanding tone, but when her Captain of Guard caught her eye, she knew that the smile he would see there would tell him of what she truly felt about his comment. He smirked back at her and headed back to where his men were stationed.

The new Chancellor had finally reached them. He addressed the new Master-Padawan pair first

"We are indebted to you Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker."

Then he turned to her

[Okay Padmé – shields tightened and Queen-face on. For kriffing sake smile!]

"Congratulations on your election Chancellor."

"Your boldness has saved our people Your Majesty, it is you who should be congratulated."

Anakin was listening on the conversation, he tightened his own shields instinctively and touched the secondary training bond that Obi-Wan and him had formed out of formality – and in case Anakin ever took on a Padawan later in life so that he would know how to do it.

[If we were bold, then he probably started the whole thing!]

[Anakin, our bad feelings are not enough to base an entire accusation on. Despite our 'creepy-crawly' feelings what evidence do we have?]

[True. You and I better spend some time with CorSec then.]

[The Force giving you that niggly feeling again?]

[At least it's not screaming this time.]

[Your connection to the Force is astounding.]

[Yeah, well – I'm no Ferus Olin.]

[No, you're better, you're my brother – Anakin Skywalker.]

[Want to make that official?]

[That 'blood brothers' thing you found as leisure reading material?]

[Yup.]

They missed the rest of the conversation between the Chancellor and the Queen. But as they moved off, they inched closer to the Queen. She saw them out of the corner of her eye and began mouthing subtly at them – not privy to the telepathy bond advantage that Jedi had.

"Restore peace and prosperity to the Republic he said, together he said. If he isn't out to use me again like he did in the Senate, may the Force turn me into a male this instant!"

Anakin, Obi-Wan and Padmé stopped unnoticeably for a second.

"Nope, still a female – thankfully, but what do you know? He's out to use me!"

Anakin smirked slightly as he mouthed back

"Well, like my dear Master of a brother said, we've got no evidence."

"The Force not turning me into a boy isn't enough?"

"Well, the Force's plan for you might have you remain female – no matter what."

Obi-Wan joined in, mouthing

"Can it you two, not now."

Anakin's and Padmé's eyes twinkled as they mouthed as one

"Yes 'Big Brother'."

Padmé sighed, before speaking in the Royal Monotone

"We must prepare for Master Qui Gon Jinn's funeral."

The trio's shoulder slumped – all of them had been there in the Jedi Master's final moments. None of them – even through their joking and teasing, truly felt ready to let the maverick Jedi go.

* * *

_Qui Gon's Funeral – Naboo._

The fire ate at the wood, but for some reason it didn't touch the body.

It ate at Obi-wan's Padawan braid – his last gift to his master, along with the present Qui Gon had given Anakin on his 13th lifeday, a small seeker-droid, to help him with his then new lifestyle as a Serviceman mechanic.

It was unheard of for Jedi Servicemen to receive a meaningful gift on what was known as their 'Apprenticed Day' – which was their own individual 13th lifeday. Obi-Wan had pleaded and begged for Qui Gon and him to have a private 'Apprentice Day' for Anakin. Qui Gon had resisted at first, but when Obi-Wan compromised, the passed Jedi Master had given the seeker-droid to Anakin. Obi-Wan's present was something even less traditional. He had gotten Qui Gon to cover for them and they ran off planet.

To the lightsaber caves more specifically.

There he had given Anakin his present – his promise to find a way for him to become his Padawan Learner. Anakin had protested, telling him that even if he couldn't be a Jedi Knight, a Jedi Serviceman mechanic was a close second.

But in the caves of the lightsaber crystals, his promise was even more binding than it would usually be. And he fulfilled it.

Anakin was now his Padawan. And as the flames continued to burn, he looked at his Master's still whole body.

Anakin looked at the fire and their father-figure's still untouched body, he reached silently to the training bond – their 'brother-bond' was better but they decided to practice using the new bond.

[Obs?]

[Yeah Ani?]

[What are we going to do now?]

[After we grieve?]

[Jedi aren't supposed to grieve.]

[Well, we aren't exactly model Jedi now are we?]

[True.]

[After we grieve, we will go to Corellia, train you, etcetera.]

[The Sith? Read about it in the Archives, there are only ever 2. A Master and a Apprentice. The rest are all just Dark Jedi.]

[You read too much.]

[Probation, Initiate days, remember?]

[Yes I do. You dragged me into most of them.]

[The Corellian Jedi discretely follow the Old Code don't they?]

[Maybe that's why their tie to the Living Force is stronger. We are going there to learn after all.]

[I hope we learn something useful. The Force Light technique you used on Tatooine doesn't work under battle situation.]

[We better find a way to combine battle and Force Light then. Especially for Dark Adepts.]

Anakin quirked a brow at him then sent a hard look at Chancellor Palpatine subtly.

[Obs, there's something wrong with that guy. I don't know what, and I know his Force presence is like any other non Force-sensitive's, but the Force is screaming at me.]

[Could be your stomach.]

[I don't know. Maybe – I just can't shake the feeling.]

* * *

_Theed – Naboo._

The sounds of the triumphant Gungans paraded into the city, the inhabitants going near crazy with joy of their victory – of their planet's recovered freedom. Padmé had Governor Bibble on her right and Palpatine on her left. As the Gungan Boss head came up to her she signalled for the sphere of plasma to be brought to her and passed it to him. The Gungan leader raised it above his head.

The alliance with the Gungans, was complete – and the Naboo and the Gungans relationship would just continue to improve from here, she was sure of it. Besides, she had Shmi's comlink frequency, she could always call for help. K'Ru'rah of the Tusken Raiders would know a thing or two about joining the natives and the settlers together as one people.

She gestured to an attendant and turned to her people

"Today citizens of Naboo, we owe our gratitude to the Gungans. And these Jedi…"

Obi-wan and Anakin stepped forward and knelt before her on a single knee, she lowered a medal onto each of them,

"…to whom we give our thanks. Rise Heroes of Naboo!"

She turned to the Boss and he smiled at her – she could read the sincerity in his body language.

"Today citizens of Naboo. WE ARE FREE!"

* * *

**AN**: And that's a wrap of The Phantom Menace rewrite. Hope you enjoyed the story. If I update this story again, it'll inform you of the next installment of this saga.

Cheers once again,

Eastonia

P/S: 'The Slide' Will come soon, but first there are 'The Years In Between', the first 5 vignettes covers the main gist of what you need to know for 'The Slide', so you're not completely blindsided. This is only the beginning of the adventure.

'The Years In Between' Story ID: 8804584


	14. Authors Note, Sequel's Up!

Hello Eastonia here,

Well, the sequel is finally up! Just warning you, I might not be as quick and as regular in my updates with this story. Don't worry though, I've got the Attack of the Clones on hand - just need to watch it over and over...

Follow the continuation of the Shift!verse Saga in Star Wars: The Slide.

Story ID: 8811052

Hopefully I'll see you there.

Cheers,

Eastonia


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